The World Trade Centers Association (also abbreviated as: WTCA) founded in 1970, is a not-for-profit, non-political association dedicated to the establishment and effective operation of World Trade Centers (WTCs) as instruments for trade expansion representing 316 members in 91 countries. The WTCA is an unofficial umbrella trade association that unites corporations and government agencies in international trade. The WTCA's founding principles are:
- To encourage the expansion of world trade;
- To promote international business relationships and understanding among nations;
- To foster increased participation in world trade by industrializing nations;
- To create and encourage mutual assistance and cooperation among members; and
- To promote and further the concept of the World Trade Center.
The WTCA is governed by a 24-member international Board of Directors, composed of executives from WTCA members around the world, and elected by the membership. Eight permanent committees have been established to carry on the work of the Association in the following fields:
- Committee on Facilities and Functions
- Committee on International Relations and Development
- Committee on Planning and Finance
- Committee on Public Relations and Information
- Committee on Tourism, Hospitality and Cultural Exchange
- Committee on Trade Education, Training and Research
- Committee on Trade Fairs, Trade Marts and High Tech Parks
- Committee on WTC Standards and Quality
- Committee on Peace & Stability through trade
In December, 2008 WTCA Committee on Peace and Stability through Trade awarded its first Global Corporate Leadership award to Robert Thompson, Founder of CenTradeX, inc. Nashville, TN
The WTCA has more than 287 licensed world trade affiliates in 88 countries and more than 750,000 companies and individuals
Famous quotes containing the words world, trade, centers and/or association:
“The whole world is an omen and a sign. Why look so wistfully in a corner? Man is the Image of God. Why run after a ghost or a dream? The voice of divination resounds everywhere and runs to waste unheard, unregarded, as the mountains echo with the bleatings of cattle.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If the world would only build temples to Machinery in the abstract then everything would be perfect. The painter and sculptor would have plenty to do, and could, in complete peace and suitably honoured, pursue their trade without further trouble.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
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—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)