SNAP 2015 GK Preparation
SNAP 2015 GK Preparation series. GK is a differentiator when it comes to SNAP. Most of the aspirants don’t prepare for the section and end up scoring below expectations. Though one cannot prepare for GK in a month, one can always do things that are enough to do reasonably well in the test. One can prepare topic wise, go through past papers and find the commonly asked GK topics and even take calculated guesses in the test. To help you prepare for SNAP 2015 GK section, we are going to write a series of articles focusing on GK. Every article will also be available in PDF format for download and easy viewing. Let’s dive into our #17 article in this series: Economies and world organizations.
G-20 major economies
| Member | Official title | Head of government | Finance minister | Central bank governor |
| Argentina | President | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner | Axel Kicillof | Alejandro Vanoli |
| Australia | Prime Minister | Tony Abbott | Joe Hockey | Glenn Stevens |
| Brazil | President | Dilma Rousseff | Joaquim Levy | Alexandre Tombini |
| Canada | Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau | Joe Oliver | Stephen Poloz |
| China | President | Xi Jinping | Lou Jiwei | Zhou Xiaochuan |
| France | President | François Hollande | Michel Sapin | Christian Noyer |
| Germany | Chancellor | Angela Merkel | Wolfgang Schäuble | Jens Weidmann |
| India | Prime Minister | Narendra Modi | Arun Jaitley | Raghuram Rajan |
| Indonesia | President | Joko Widodo | Bambang Brodjonegoro | Agus Martowardojo |
| Italy | Prime Minister | Matteo Renzi | Pier Carlo Padoan | Ignazio Visco |
| Japan | Prime Minister | Shinzo Abe | Taro Aso | Haruhiko Kuroda |
| South Korea | President | Park Geun-hye | Choi Kyoung-hwan | Lee Ju-yeol |
| Mexico | President | Enrique Peña Nieto | Luis Videgaray Caso | Agustín Carstens |
| Russia | President | Vladimir Putin | Anton Siluanov | Elvira Nabiullina |
| Saudi Arabia | King | Salman Al Saud | Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf | Fahad Almubarak |
| South Africa | President | Jacob Zuma | Nhlanhla Nene | Lesetja Kganyago |
| Turkey | Prime Minister | Ahmet Davutoğlu | Ali Babacan | Erdem Başçı |
| United Kingdom | Prime Minister | David Cameron | George Osborne | Mark Carney |
| United States | President | Barack Obama | Jack Lew | Janet Yellen |
| European Union | President of the European Council | Donald Tusk | Pierre Moscovici | Mario Draghi |
United Nations Development Group
| Agency | Head | Headquarters |
| UNDP – United Nations Development Programme | Helen Clark | New York |
| UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund | Anthony Lake | New York |
| UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund | Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin | New York |
| WFP – World Food Programme | Ertharin Cousin | Rome, Italy |
| UN Women (formerly UNIFEM) – The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women | Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka | New York |
| UN-HABITAT – United Nations Human Settlements Programme | Joan Clos i Matheu | Nairobi, Kenya |
| WHO – World Health Organization | Margaret Chan | Geneva, Switzerland |
| DESA – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | Wu Hongbo | New York |
| UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization | Irina Bokova | Place de Fontenoy, Paris, France |
| FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | José Graziano da Silva | Palazzo FAO, Rome, Italy |
| UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Development Organization | Li Yong | Vienna, Austria |
| ILO – International Labour Organization | Guy Ryder | Geneva, Switzerland |
| UNEP – United Nations Environment Programme | Achim Steiner | Nairobi, Kenya |
| UNWTO – United Nations World Tourism Organization | Taleb Rifai | Madrid, Spain |
| WMO – World Meteorological Organization | Michel Jarraud, David Grimes | Geneva, Switzerland |
| ITU – International Telecommunications Union | Houlin Zhao | Geneva, Switzerland |
Important World Agreements/Associations/Organizations
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical organization of eight countries that are primarily located in South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. The SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic organization of ten Southeast Asian countries. It was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an international organization headquartered in Vienna, Austria. OPEC was established in Baghdad, Iraq on 10–14 September 1960. In 2014 OPEC comprised twelve members: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral rules-based trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada.
The Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) was signed in 1975. It is the oldest preferential trade agreement between countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Its aim is to promote economic development and cooperation through the adoption of mutually beneficial trade liberalization measures. Member nations are Bangladesh, China, India, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka, and Mongolia.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The WTO’s current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, Switzerland.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, DC, of “188 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world”. Formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system.
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, and a member of the United Nations Development Group.
Download PDF of this article here: SNAP 2015 GK Preparation – Economies and World organizations
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Read the entire series here: SNAP 2015 GK Preparation
