Developing countries and the multilateral
trading system – from the GATT to the Uruguay
round & the future
The origin of the GATT can be traced to the
US governments “proposals for the expansion
of world trade & employment” published on
Dec. 6th ,1945 and forwarded to all other
countries in the world.
Wide negotiations & contracting parties 
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In all 123 bilateral negotiations covering 50,000 items
took place over 1,000 meetings and produced a
single document called the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on Nov. 18, 1947.
Among the original twenty-three contracting parties
to the GATT in 1947, eleven were developing
countries.
Purpose of GATT 
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The General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT)
was established in 1948 in Geneva to pursue the
objective of free & fair trade in order to encourage
growth and development of all member countries.
The principal purpose of GATT was to ensure
competition in commodity trade through reduction or
removal of trade barriers.
The Uruguay round of Negotiations 
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The 8th round of multi-lateral trade negotiations,
popularly as Uruguay Round was started in
September 1986 at a special session of GATT
contracting parties held at ministerial level.
The Uruguay Round (UR) contained the mandate to
have negotiations in 15 areas. In part I, negotiations
on trade in goods were to be conducted in 14 areas
and in part II negotiations on trade in services were
to be carried out.
Part I (trade in goods) declaration in UR 
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Tariffs
Non tariff measures
Tropical products
Natural resource based products
Textiles and clothing
Agriculture
GATT Articles
Safeguards
MTN
Subsidies
Dispute settlement
TRIPs
TRIMs
FOGS
Part II of the declaration included trade in
services and re-classified the above 15 areas
into 7 as below 
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Market access
Agriculture
Textiles
TRIMs
TRIPs
Trade in Services
Institutional Matters
Impact of WTO on various aspects of
Indian economy 
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Effects on Indian Industry
Impact of WTO on SSI Units
WTO, Subsidies and Agriculture
Doha talks collapse 
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As the Doha round talks collapsed, basically, due to
the US/EU squabbling over agricultural subsidies,
India has reaped an indirect gain.
It can now continue with its protectionist agricultural
policies.
Since the establishment of WTO in Jan. 1995,
so far 6 ministerial conferences have been held:
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Singapore - Dec. 1996
Geneva – May 1998
Seattle – Nov.-Dec. 1999
Doha – Nov. 2001
Cancun – Sept. 2003
Hong Kong – Dec. 2005
Objectives of WTO 
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To improve standard of living of people in the
member countries.
To ensure full employment and broad increase in
effective demand.
To enlarge production and trade of goods.
To enlarge production and trade of services.
To ensure optimum utilization of world resources.
To accept the concept of sustainable development.
To protect environment.
No. of WTO members - 149
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There are presently 30 countries in the process of
accession to the WTO.
There are number of important committees for
administration of WTO –
1. Dispute Settlement Body.
2. Trade Policy Review Body.
3. Council for Trade in Goods.
4. Council for Trade in Services.
5. Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights.
Multilateralism Vs. Bilateralism
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There is no doubt that in a world of unequal
partners, multilateralism is superior to bilateralism
and if some concessions are to be extracted from
strong partners belonging to US and European
Community, then the combined strength of the
developing countries can exercise a stronger pull in
their favour.
Social clause & multi-lateral trade
organization
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The innovation of the social clause was also
conceived with the same intention of blunting the
competitive advantage of developing nations.
The solution lies in the fact that the developing
nations should take advantage of the multi-lateral
trade organization and show their combined strength
by closing their ranks, rather than surrender their
sovereignty one after another.
Conclusion
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There is no concrete answer to this question whether
multilateral trade negotiation has completely solved
the problem of the developing nations in achieving
the free and fair trade under globalization era.