Foreign Trade Organization

Summary of Foreign Trade Organization

A former instrumentality of the Soviet government charged with controlling the importation or exportation of specified products, or with providing trade-related functions such as shipping and insurance. Most of the sixty-plus FTOs in existence in the 1980s were subject to control of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and are limited to a narrow range of products. Operationally, export-import transactions were planned in advance by the State Planning Committee (Gosplan) with an object of maintaining a high degree of Soviet economic self- sufficiency and preserving foreign exchange. After Gosplan completed a basic export-import plan, the scheme was articulated through the Ministry of Foreign Trade to the various FTOs.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)