international organisations

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Mercosur From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mercado Común del Sur Mercado Comum do Sul Ñemby Ñemuha Southern Common Market Emblem Motto: "Nuestro norte es el Sur" (Spanish) "Nosso norte é o Sul" (Portuguese) "Our North is the South" Dark green: Full members. Headquarters Montevideo Largest cities São Paulo Buenos Aires Rio de Janeiro Caracas

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MercosurFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mercado Común del Sur

Mercado Comum do Sul

Ñemby Ñemuha

Southern Common Market

Emblem

Motto:

"Nuestro norte es el Sur" (Spanish)

"Nosso norte é o Sul" (Portuguese)

"Our North is the South"

Dark green: Full members.

Headquarters Montevideo

Largest cities São Paulo

Buenos Aires

Rio de Janeiro

Caracas

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Official languages Spanish

Portuguese

Guarani

Ethnic groups (2011b[1]) 65% white

25% multiraciala

7% black

3% asian/amerindian

Type Intergovernmental

Membership

5 members[show]

5 associated[show]

2 observers[show]

Leaders

 - President Pro Tempore Horacio CartesParaguay[2]

Establishment

 - Treaty of Asunción 26 March 1991

 - Protocol of Ouro Preto 16 December 1994

Area

 - Total 12,795,579 km2(2ndb)

4,940,401 sq mi

 - Water (%) 1.0

Population

 - 2011 estimate 288,996,820[3] (4thb)

 - Density 21.8/km2 (195thb)

56.5/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2013 estimate

 - Total US$4.171 trillion[3](5thb)

 - Per capita US$15,219 (58ndb)

HDI (2011)  0.731[4]

high · 76thb

Currency 5 currencies[show]

a. Pardo, Mestizo, etc.

b. Considering Mercosur as a single entity.

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c. Pro tempore.[5]

Mercosur or Mercosul (Spanish: Mercado Común del Sur, Portuguese: Mercado Comum do Sul, Guarani: Ñemby Ñemuha,Southern Common Market) is a sub-regional bloc. Its full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. In 2012 and 2015 Bolivia signed the Accession Protocol and its membership status is "in accession process".[6][7]

Its associate countries are Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico.[8][9]

Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency. The official languages are Spanish, Portuguese and Guarani.[10] It has been updated, amended, and changed many times since. It is now a full customs union and atrading bloc. Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations are customs unions that are components of a continuing process of South American integration connected to the Union of South American Nations.

South Asian Association for Regional CooperationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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South Asian Association

for Regional Cooperation[show]

Logo

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   Member states

   Observer states

Headquarters Kathmandu

Official languages English

Demonym South Asian

Member states8 members[show]

9 observers[show]

Leaders

 - Secretary-General Arjun Bahadur Thapa[1]

Establishment 8 December 1985

Area

 - Total 5,099,611 km2 (7th)

1,968,971 sq mi

 - Water (%) 6.8

Population

 - 2015 estimate 1,713,870,000[2] (1st)

 - Density 336.1/km2

870.4/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate

 - Total US$9.9 trillion [3] (3rd)

GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate

 - Total US$ 2.9 trillion[3] (5th)

Currency 8 currencies[show]

Time zone (UTC+4:30 to +6)

Calling code 10 codes[show]

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Internet TLD .asia[a]

Websitewww.saarc-sec.org

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical organisation of eight countriesthat are primarily located in South Asia or the Indian subcontinent.[4] The SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.[5] The combined economy of SAARC is the 3rd largest in the world in the terms of GDP(PPP) after the United States and China and 5th largest in the terms of nominal GDP. SAARC nations comprise 3% of the world's area and contain 21% (around 1.7 billion) of the world's total population and around 9.12% of Global economy as of 2015. SAARC also home to world's 3rd & 7th largest Economy of world in GPP(PPP) & GDP(Nominal) terms respectively as well as World's fastest growing major Economy,that is India. India makes up over 70% of the area and population among these eight nations. All non-Indian member states shares borders with India. During 2005-10, the average GDP growth rate of SAARC stood at an impressive 8.8% p.a., but it slowed to 6.5% in 2011 largely because of economic slowdown in India, which accounts for nearly 80% of SAARC's economy. But driven by a strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices,from the last quarter of 2014 South Asia once again become the fastest-growing region in the world.[6] As of 2015 foreign exchange reserves of SAARC nations stands at USD 411 billion.[citation needed]

The idea of regional political and economical cooperation in South Asia was first raised in 2 May 1980 by Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman and the first summit was held in Dhaka on 8 December 1985, when the organisation was established by the governments ofBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[7][8] Since then the organisation has expanded by accepting one new full member, Afghanistan,[9] and several observer members.[7]

The SAARC policies aim to promote welfare economics, collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia, and to acceleratesocio-cultural development in the region.[10] The SAARC has developed external relations by establishing permanent diplomatic relations with the EU, the UN (as an observer), and other multilateral entities.[10] The official meetings of the leaders of each nation are held annually whilst the foreign ministers meet twice annually.[10] The 18th SAARC Summit was held in Kathmandu from 26–27 November 2014.

World Trade OrganizationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"WTO" redirects here. For other uses, see WTO (disambiguation).

World Trade Organization (English)

Organisation mondiale du commerce (French)

Organización Mundial del Comercio (Spanish)

Official logo of WTO

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   Members

  Members, dually represented by the EU

  Observers

  Non-participant states

Abbreviation WTO

Formation 1 January 1995; 20 years ago

Type International trade organization

Purpose Regulate international trade

Headquarters Centre William Rappard, Geneva,Switzerland

Coordinates 46.12°N 6.09°ECoordinates: 46.12°N 6.09°E

Region served Worldwide

Membership 161 member states[1]

Official language English, French, Spanish[2]

Director-General Roberto Azevêdo

Budget 196 million Swiss francs (approx. 209 million

US$) in 2011.[3]

Staff 640[4]

Website www.wto.org

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.[5] The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments[6]:fol.9–10 and ratified by their

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parliaments.[7] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).

The WTO is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round, which was launched in 2001 with an explicit focus on developing countries. As of June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain: the work programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed, and the round is still incomplete.[8] The conflict between free trade on industrial goods and services but retention of protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural sector (requested by developed countries) and the substantiation of fair trade on agricultural products (requested by developing countries) remain the major obstacles. This impasse has made it impossible to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round. As a result, there have been an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements between governments.[9] As of July 2012, there were various negotiation groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade negotiation which is in the condition of stalemate.[10]

The WTO's current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo,[11][12] who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva,Switzerland.[13] A trade facilitation agreement known as the Bali Package was reached by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive agreement in the organization's history.[14][15]

Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"APEC" redirects here. For other uses, see APEC (disambiguation).

This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by removing promotional contentand inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view. (August 2015)

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Logo

APEC member economies shown in green.

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Headquarters  Singapore

Type Economic forum

Membership  [show]

Leaders

 - APEC Host Economy 2015  Philippines

 - Executive Director Dr. Alan Bollard

Establishment 1989

Websitewww.apec.org

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies[1] that promotes free tradethroughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; to fears that highly industrialised Japan (a member of G8) would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.[2]

An annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is attended by the heads of government of all APEC members except Taiwan (which is represented by a ministerial-level official under the name Chinese Taipei as economic leader[3]). The location of the meeting rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition, followed for most (but not all) summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country.

OPECFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

Flag

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Headquarters Vienna, Austria

Official language English[1]

Type Cartel

Membership

12 states (2011)

 Algeria

 Angola

 Ecuador

 Iran

 Iraq

 Kuwait

 Libya

 Nigeria

 Qatar

 Saudi Arabia

 United Arab Emirates

 Venezuela

Leaders

 - President Diezani Alison-Madueke

 - Secretary General Abdallah el-Badri

Establishment Baghdad, Iraq

 - Statute 10–14 September 1960

 - in effect January 1961

Area

 - Total 11,854,977 km2

4,577,232 sq mi

Population

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 - estimate 372,368,429

 - Density 31.16/km2

80.7/sq mi

Currency Indexed as USD -per-barrel

Websitewww.OPEC.org

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, /ˈoʊpɛk/ OH-pek), a permanent, international organizationheadquartered in Vienna, Austria, was established in Baghdad, Iraq on 10–14 September 1960.[2] OPEC was formed when the international oil market was largely dominated by a group of multinational companies known as the 'seven sisters'.[3]:503 The formation of OPEC represented a collective act of sovereignty by oil exporting nations, and marked a turning point in state control over natural resources.[3]:505 In the 1960s OPEC ensured that oil companies could not unilaterally cut prices.[3]:505 In December 2014, OPEC and the oil men were named in the top 10 most influential people in the shipping industry by Lloyds.[4]

OPEC's mandate is to "coordinate and unify the petroleum policies" of its members and to "ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers, and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry."[5][6][7][8] In 2014 OPEC comprised twelve members: Algeria, Angola,Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.[2] According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), OPEC crude oil production is an important factor affecting global oil prices. OPEC sets production targets for its member nations and generally, when OPEC production targets are reduced, oil prices increase.[9]Projections of changes in Saudi production result in changes in the price of benchmark crude oils.[9]

European UnionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"EU" redirects here. For other uses, see EU (disambiguation).

European Union[show]

Flag

Motto: "United in diversity"[1][2][3]

Anthem: "Ode to Joy" (orchestral)[2]

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MENU

0:00

Capital Brussels (de facto)[4]

50°51′N 4°21′E

Largest cities London and Paris

Official languages 24 languages[show]

Demonym European[5]

Type Politico-economicunion

Member states 28 states[show]

Leaders

 - President of the

European Commission

Jean-Claude Juncker

 - President of the European Council Donald Tusk

Legislature  - Council of the EU

 - Parliament

Formation[6]

 - Treaty of Rome 1 January 1958

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 - Treaty of Maastricht 1 November 1993

Area

 - Total 4,324,782 km2 (7tha)

1,669,808 sq mi

 - Water (%) 3.08

Population

 - 2014 estimate 506,913,394[7] (3rda)

 - Density 115.8/km2

300.9/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate

 - Total $19.035 trillion[8](1sta)

 - Per capita $37,607[8] (19tha)

GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate

 - Total $16.449 trillion[8](2nda)

 - Per capita $32,498[9] (16tha)

Gini (2010) 30.4[10]

medium

HDI (2011)  0.876[11]

very high · 13th / 25tha

CurrencyEuro (EUR; Eurozone)

10 others[show]

Time zone WET (UTC)[a]

CET (UTC+1)

EET (UTC+2)

 - Summer (DST) WEST (UTC+1)

CEST (UTC+2)

EEST (UTC+3)

Internet TLD .eu[b]

Websiteeuropa.eu

a. If considered as a single entity.

The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe.[12][13] The EU operates through a system of supranational institutions and intergovernmental-negotiated decisions by the member states.[14][15]The institutions are: the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central

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Bank, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by the Inner Six countries in 1951 and 1958, respectively. In the intervening years, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993 and introduced European citizenship.[16] The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009.

The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within theSchengen Area, passport controls have been abolished.[17] EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital,[18] enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade,[19] agriculture,[20]fisheries, and regional development.[21]

The monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002. It is currently composed of 19 member states that use the euro as their legal tender. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at theUnited Nations, the WTO, the G8, and the G-20.

With a combined population of over 500 million inhabitants,[22] or 7.3% of the world population,[23] the EU in 2014 generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 18.495 trillion US dollars, constituting approximately 24% of global nominal GDP and 17% when measured in terms of purchasing power parity. As of 2014 the EU has the largest economy in the world, generating a GDP bigger than any other economic union or country.[24] Additionally, 26 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the UNDP. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[2

EurozoneFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eurozone (euro area)

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AndorraBulgariaCroatiaCzechRep.

Denmark

E U R O Z O N EHungaryKosovoMonacoMonten.Poland

RomaniaSan Marino

SwedenUnited

KingdomVatican

   Eurozone

   ERM II

  Other EU members

  Monetary agreement

  Unilaterally adopted

Currency Euro

Union type Monetary union

Established 1 January 1999

Members 19[show]

Governance

Political control Eurogroup

Group president Jeroen Dijsselbloem

Issuing authority European Central Bank

ECB president Mario Draghi

Affiliated with European Union

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Statistics

Population (2015) 338,335,120[1]

GDP (2012) €9.5 trillion[2]

Interest rate 0.05%[3]

Inflation 1.6%[4]

Unemployment 11.7%[5]

Trade balance €82 bn surplus[6]

European Union

This article is part of a series on thepolitics and governmentof the European Union

Parliament[show]

European Council[show]

EU Council[show]

Commission[show]

Court of Justice[show]

Central Bank[show]

Court of Auditors[show]

Agencies

Other bodies[show]

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Policies and issues[show]

Foreign relations[show]

Elections[show]

Law[show] V

T

E

The eurozone (  pronunciation (help·info)), officially called the euro area,[7] is a monetary union of 19 of the 28European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency and solelegal tender. The other nine members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies.

The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other EU states (except for Denmark and the United Kingdom) are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so.[8] No state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled.[9] Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins.[10]

[11][12] Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro unilaterally,[13] but these countries do not officially form part of the eurozone and do not have representation in the European Central Bank (ECB) or in the Eurogroup.[14]

The ECB, which is governed by a president and a board of the heads of national central banks, sets themonetary policy of the zone. The principal task of the ECB is to keep inflation under control. Though there is no common representation, governance or fiscal policy for the currency union, some co-operation does take place through the Eurogroup, which makes political decisions regarding the eurozone and the euro. The Eurogroup is composed of the finance ministers of eurozone states, but in emergencies, national leaders also form the Eurogroup.

Since the financial crisis of 2007–08, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting emergency loans to member states in return for the enactment of economic reforms. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration, for example in peer review of each other's national budgets. The issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone reform.

MangroveFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mangroves in Malaysia

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A mangrove forest in Palawan, Philippines.

Pneumatophores penetrate the sand surrounding a mangrove tree.

Mangroves in Cambodia.

Mangroves are various large and extensive types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics—mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The remaining mangrove forest areas of the world in 2000 was 53,190 square miles (137,760 km²) spanning 118 countries and territories.[1][2]

Mangroves are salt tolerant trees (halophytes) adapted to live in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope with salt water immersion and wave action. They are adapted to the low oxygen (anoxic) conditions of waterlogged mud.

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The word is used in at least three senses: (1) most broadly to refer to the habitat and entire plant assemblage or mangal,[3][page needed] for which the terms mangrove forest biome, mangrove swamp and mangrove forest are also used, (2) to refer to all trees and large shrubs in the mangrove swamp, and (3) narrowly to refer to the mangrove family of plants, theRhizophoraceae, or even more specifically just to mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora.

The mangrove biome, or mangal, is a distinct saline woodland or shrubland habitat characterized by depositional coastal environments, where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high-energy wave action. The saline conditions tolerated by various mangrove species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt (parts per thousand)), to water concentrated by evaporation to over twice the salinity of ocean seawater (up to 90 ppt).[4][5]

Arctic CouncilFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (November 2014)

The Arctic Council

   members

  observers

The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and theindigenous people of the Arctic. It has eight member countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History of the Arctic Council 2 Membership

o 2.1 Member stateso 2.2 Chairmanship

3 Observer stateso 3.1 Permanent observer stateso 3.2 Ad hoc observer states

4 Nongovernmental observers 5 Indigenous peoples 6 Administrative aspects

o 6.1 Meetingso 6.2 The secretariat

7 Security and geopolitical issues

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8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History of the Arctic Council[edit]

The first step towards the formation of the Council occurred in 1991 when the eight Arctic countries signed the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). The 1996 Ottawa Declaration[1] established the Arctic Council[2] as forum for promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on issues such as sustainable development and environmental protection.[3][4] The Arctic Council has conducted studies onclimate change, oil and gas, and Arctic shipping.[4][5][6][7]

In 2011, the Council member states concluded the Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement, the first binding treaty concluded under the Council's auspices.[4][8]

Membership[edit]

Member states[edit]

Only states with territory in the Arctic can be members of the Council. All eight countries are members making the Arctic Council a circumpolar forum. The Council also has permanent and ad hoc observer countries and "permanent participants".[9]

Canada ; Denmark ; representing also the dependencies of

Greenland Faroe Islands

Finland Iceland Norway Russia Sweden United States NATO

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the military alliance. For other uses, see NATO (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord

Flag of NATO.svg

Flag[1]

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (orthographic projection).svg

Member states of NATO

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Abbreviation NATO, OTAN

Motto Animus in consulendo liber[2]

Formation 4 April 1949

Type Military alliance

Headquarters Brussels, Belgium

Membership

28 states[show]

Official language

English

French[3]

Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR)

Philip M. Breedlove

Secretary General

Jens Stoltenberg

Chairman of the NATO

Military Committee

Petr Pavel

Website nato.int

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, in which the always-American Supreme Allied Commander also resides. Belgium is one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70 percent of the global total.[4] Members' defense spending is supposed to amount to 2 percent of GDP.[5]

NATO was little more than a political association until the Korean War galvanized the organization's member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two US supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the

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withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966 for 30 years. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization was drawn into the breakup of Yugoslavia, and conducted its first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only time after the 11 September 2001 attacks,[6] after which troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF. The organization has operated a range of additional roles since then, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations[7] and in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. The less potent Article 4, which merely invokes consultation among NATO members, has been invoked five times: by Turkey in 2003 over the Iraq War; twice in 2012 by Turkey over the Syrian Civil War, after the downing of an unarmed Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet, and after a mortar was fired at Turkey from Syria;[8] in 2014 by Poland, following the Russian intervention in Crimea;[9] and again by Turkey in 2015 after threats by the Islamic State to its territorial integrity.

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical WeaponsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Organisation for the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

OPCW logo

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Member states of the OPCW (green)

Formation 29 April 1997[1]

HeadquartersThe Hague, Netherlands

52.091241°N 4.283193°ECoordinates: 

52.091241°N 4.283193°E

Membership 191 member states

All states party to the CWC are automatically members.

6 UN member states are non-members: Angola, Burma,

Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan.

Official

languageEnglish, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish,

Arabic

Director General  Ahmet Üzümcü [2]

Official organs Conference of the States Parties

Executive Council

Technical Secretariat

Budget €71 million/year (2012)[3]

Staff approximately 500[3]

Website opcw.org

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation, located in The Hague,Netherlands.

The organisation promotes and verifies the adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction. The verification consists both of evaluation of declarations by member states and on-site inspections.

The organisation was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize because it had, with the Chemical Weapons Convention,[4] "defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law" according to Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.[5][6]