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Pan-American games

(Encyclopedia)Pan-American games, amateur athletic competition among representatives of countries in the Western Hemisphere. The competition, held every four years, follows the organization and eligibility rules of...

American Kennel Club

(Encyclopedia)American Kennel Club (AKC), national organization in the United States devoted to the advancement and welfare of pure-bred dogs. It is comprised of approximately 500 autonomous clubs. A delegate repre...

Organization of Islamic Cooperation

(Encyclopedia)Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), international organization of 57 countries whose inhabitants are mainly Muslim, est. 1969 as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, renamed 2011. It is ...

Pan-American Union

(Encyclopedia)Pan-American Union, former name for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). It was founded (1889–90) at the first of the modern Inter-American Conferences (see Pan-Amer...

Warsaw Treaty Organization

(Encyclopedia)Warsaw Treaty Organization or Warsaw Pact, alliance set up under a mutual defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, in 1955 by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania,...

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, ...

International Refugee Organization

(Encyclopedia)International Refugee Organization (IRO), temporary agency of the United Nations, established in 1946. In arranging for the care and the repatriation or resettlement of Europeans made homeless by Worl...

World Intellectual Property Organization

(Encyclopedia)World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Geneva. WIPO became an agency in 1974, but its roots go back to 1883 when the need for i...

International Maritime Organization

(Encyclopedia)International Maritime Organization (IMO), specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1948, with headquarters in London and 168 member nations and three associate members. IMO is one of t...

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