Current Affairs MCQs – Page 9 (Q81-90)

SAARC stands for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a regional intergovernmental organization founded in 1985 by seven South Asian countries to promote economic and social progress in the region. Its founding members were India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, with Afghanistan joining later in 2007 as an eighth member. The other listed options are invented near-matches designed to test careful reading of the acronym's precise wording. SAARC's secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, though the organization's activity has often been hampered by tensions between India and Pakistan.

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a military and political alliance founded in 1949 by the United States, Canada and ten Western European nations to provide collective defense against the Soviet threat during the Cold War. Its founding treaty's Article 5 establishes that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all members. The other listed options are invented near-matches designed to test careful reading of the acronym's precise wording. NATO is now headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, and has expanded to 32 member states, most recently adding Finland and Sweden.

OIC stands for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of 57 Muslim-majority states founded in 1969 after an arson attack on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque galvanized collective action among Islamic nations. It is the second-largest intergovernmental organization in the world after the United Nations, working to promote solidarity and cooperation among its member states in political, economic and cultural fields. The other listed options are invented near-matches designed to test careful reading of the acronym's precise wording. The OIC is headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and was previously known as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference until its 2011 rebranding.

ASEAN stands for the Association of South East Asian Nations, a regional bloc founded in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to promote economic growth and regional stability. It has since expanded to ten member states, including Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei, with Timor-Leste in the process of becoming an eleventh member. The other listed options are invented near-matches designed to test careful reading of the acronym's precise wording. ASEAN's secretariat is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the bloc holds an annual summit rotating among its member states.

The Non-Aligned Movement was founded in Belgrade in 1961, in the capital of what was then Yugoslavia, under the leadership of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, who hosted the movement's first summit. It emerged from the Cold War era as a coalition of states that formally aligned with neither the Western nor the Soviet bloc, championing sovereignty and mutual non-interference. Bandung is a tempting distractor because the landmark 1955 Bandung Conference in Indonesia, led by figures like Nehru and Sukarno, is widely seen as the movement's philosophical precursor, even though the formal organization was founded six years later in Belgrade. The Non-Aligned Movement now includes 120 member states, making it one of the largest groupings of countries after the UN.

The World Economic Forum was founded in 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, initially as the European Management Forum before being renamed in 1987 to reflect its broadening global scope. It is a Swiss nonprofit organization that brings together business leaders, politicians, academics and other influential figures to discuss pressing global economic and social issues. 1990 is a tempting distractor since that decade saw the WEF's influence grow substantially amid post-Cold War globalization, well after its actual founding in 1971. The WEF is best known for publishing the Global Competitiveness Report and the Global Gender Gap Report.

The World Economic Forum is best known for its annual meeting held in Davos, a small ski resort town in the Swiss Alps, which draws thousands of global business and political leaders each January. The gathering has become shorthand for elite global economic discussion, often simply referred to as Davos in international media coverage. Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne are tempting distractors as other prominent Swiss cities hosting international bodies, but the WEF's signature annual meeting has always been held in Davos. The Forum also organizes regional meetings throughout the year focused on specific continents or industries.

The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, under the original name the British Empire Games, bringing together athletes from across Britain's empire and dominions. The event was inspired by earlier inter-empire sporting festivals and has since been held every four years, except during World War II, evolving through several name changes. 1948 is a tempting distractor since that year saw the London Olympics, held shortly after World War II, but the Commonwealth Games themselves began nearly two decades earlier. The Games adopted their current name, the Commonwealth Games, in 1978, reflecting the transformation of the British Empire into the modern Commonwealth of Nations.

The predecessor agreement to the World Trade Organization was commonly known as GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, signed in 1947 to reduce trade barriers and promote international commerce among its signatory nations. GATT operated for nearly five decades through a series of negotiating rounds before being succeeded by the WTO in 1995 following the Uruguay Round. The Bretton Woods Accord and IMF Charter are tempting distractors since they stem from the same 1944 conference, but they established the IMF and World Bank rather than a trade agreement. The OECD, founded later in 1961, is a separate body focused on economic policy coordination among developed nations.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, was signed in 1947 by 23 founding countries seeking to reduce tariffs and other barriers to international trade in the aftermath of World War II. It operated on a provisional basis for nearly five decades, overseeing successive rounds of trade negotiations that gradually lowered global tariffs. 1944 is a tempting distractor because that year's Bretton Woods Conference created the IMF and World Bank, related but separate institutions from GATT, which was negotiated three years later. GATT was eventually replaced by the WTO in 1995 following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of negotiations.