You're welcome, I'm glad we could have this discussion. Discussing different perspectives is so important for growth and understanding.

2. Bretton Woods conference (1944) as starting point for a new
order of then world economy with the cornerstones:
 International Monetary Fund (IMF)
 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
 International Trade Organization (ITO)
• IMF was designed to take care of short term problems in
connection with international liquidity
• IBRD is one of 5 institutions that comprise the World Bank Group
• During negotiations on the ITO in 1946, some countries saw a
need for immediate tariff reductions :-
 US took the initiative in preparing a document on a “general
agreement on tariffs and trade”
 Subsequent negotiations in Geneva between a group of 23
countries resulted in a set of mutual tariff reductions (GATT)

3. Foundation of the GATT
The GATT was signed by its 23 founding members on 30 October
1947 and entered into force on 1 January 1948
23 Founding member countries of the GATT:
United States, Canada, Cuba, Brazil,
Chile, Australia, New Zealand, China,
India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Syria, Lebanon, South Africa, Zimbabwe,
United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Czechoslovakia
GATT was introduce as a stepping stone towards the
establishment of the ITO and embodied many principles of the
proposed ITO.

4. GATT and WTO
• The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which
was signed in 1947, is a multilateral agreement regulating
trade among about 150 countries. According to its preamble,
the purpose of the GATT is the "substantial reduction of tariffs
and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences,
on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis.“

5. GATT and WTO
• The Uruguay Round, which was completed on December 15,
1993 after seven years of negotiations, resulted in an
agreement among 117 countries (including the U.S.) to reduce
trade barriers and to create more comprehensive and
enforceable world trade rules. The agreement coming out of
this round, the Final Act Embodying the Results of the
Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, was signed
in April 1994. The Uruguay Round agreement was approved
and implemented by the U.S. Congress in December 1994,
and went into effect on January 1, 1995.

6. GATT and WTO
• This agreement also created the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which came into being on January 1, 1995. The WTO implements the
agreement, provides a forum for negotiating additional reductions of
trade barriers and for settling policy disputes, and enforces trade
rules. The WTO launched the ninth round of multilateral trade
negotiations under the "Doha Development Agenda" (DDA or Doha
Round) in 2001.

7. WTO: Functions
• Administring and implementing the multilateral and plurilateral trade
agreements
• Forum for multilateral trade negotiations
• Dispute settlement
• Overseeing national trade policy
• Cooperation with IMF and World Bank

8. WTO: Basic Principles
(1) Trade without discrimination
(2) Predictable and growing access to market
(3) Undistorted, fair competition
(4) Transparency

9. Ministerial
Conference
Council for
Trade in Goods
General Council meeting as
Trade Policy Review Body
Council for
TRIPS
General Council meeting as
Dispute Settlement Body
General Council
Council for
Trade in Services
Appellate Body
Dispute Settlement panels
Committees on
•Trade and Environment
•Trade and Development
•Subcommittee on
Least-Developed Countries
•Regional Trade Agreements
•Balance of Payments Restrictions
•Budget, Finance and Administration
Working parties on
•Accession
Working groups on
•Trade, debt and finance
•Trade and technology transfer
•(Inactive:
(Relationship between Trade
and Investment,
(Interaction between Trade
and Competition Policy
(Transparency in Government
Procurement)
Committees on
•Market Access
•Agriculture
•Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
•Technical Barriers to Trade
•Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
•Anti-Dumping Practices
•Customs Valuation
•Rules of Origin
•Import Licensing
•Trade-Related Investment Measures
•Safeguards
Working party on
•State-Trading Enterprises
Committees on
•Trade in Financial services
•Specific Commitments
Working parties on
•Domestic Regulation
•GATS Rules

10. 10 Benefits of the WTO
• The system helps promote
peace
• Disputes are handled
constructively
• Rules make life easier for all
• Freer trade cuts the costs of
living
• It provides more choices of
products and qualities
• Trade raises incomes
• Trade stimulates economic
growth
• The basic principles make life
more efficient
• Governments are shielded
from lobbying
• The system encourages good
government

11. Trade and Development
• In November 2001, 142 Trade Ministers from around the world met
at the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, and launched
a Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
• The Doha Ministerial Declaration established the objective of duty-
free, quota-free market access for products originating from LDCs. In
Canada’s case, a preferential tariff for LDCs has been in place since
1983. The scope of products covered by this scheme, which applies to
49 of the world’s least-developed countries, was substantially
expanded in January 2003. The least-developed country tariff (LDCT)
provides duty-free and quota-free access for all products from LDCs,
with the exception of over-quota access for supply-managed
products in the dairy, poultry and eggs sectors.

12. Technical Assistance and Training
• Technical assistance and training are core elements of the
development dimension of the Multilateral Trading System, as
confirmed by Ministers at Doha (December 2001). This was again
underlined and further strengthened at the Ministerial Conference in
Hong Kong, China (December 2005).
• Within the WTO Secretariat, TRTA is coordinated by the Institute for
Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), based on the technical
assistance and training plans (the TA Plans). The Committee on Trade
and Development is the regular body overseeing all TRTA activities.

13. Year Name Sub.
Covered
Countries Achievements
1947 Geneva Tariffs 23 Signing of GATT,
45,000 tariff
concessions affecting
$10 billion of trade
1949 Annecy Tariffs 13 Countries
exchanged some
5,000 tariff
concessions
1950 Torquay Tariffs 38 Countries
exchanged some
8,700 tariff
concessions, cutting
the 1948 tariff levels
by 25%

14. Year Name Sub.
Covered
Countries Achievements
1956 Geneva Tariffs,
admission
of Japan
23
$2.5 billion in tariff
reductions
1960 Dillon Tariffs 26 Tariff concessions
worth $4.9 billion of
world trade
1964 Kennedy Tariffs,
anti-
dumping
66 Tariff concessions
worth $40 billion of
world trade

15. year Name Sub. Covered count
ries
Achievements
1973 Tokyo Tariff, non-tariff
measures,
"framework"
102 Tariff reductions worth
more than $300 billion
dollars achieved
1986 Uruguay Tariffs, non-tariff
measures, rules,
services,
intellectual
property, dispute
settlement, textiles,
agriculture,
creation of WTO,
etc
123 the creation of WTO,
and extended the
range of trade
negotiations, leading to
major reductions in
tariffs & agricultural
subsidies, to allow full
access for textiles from
developing countries,
and an extension of
intellectual property
rights.

16. Uruguay round versus Earlier rounds
• The spirit of opposition.
• The agenda was made very heavy and oppressive for the
developing country.
• Major focus of negotiations shifted from tariff cutting to
reduction in non-tariff barriers.
• It covered every outstanding policy issue.
• Developing countries were required to actively participate in
negotiation, meaning that they were to give concession in
order to receive additional concessions, something which
they had not done before.
• Rush of new members in the last round had showed that
multilateral trade agreement was considered an anchor for
development.

17. • Streamlined dispute settlement mechanism and Trade Review
Policy Mechanism.
• Proposed creation of a new institution WTO.
• More transparent rules for dumping investigation and rules for
determining the injury to the industry.
• The coverage of government procurement widened.
• It appeared that developing countries may have made more
concessions.

19. Thank You!
Presented By:
Niraj Patel
• My Thought:
– “ I have never learnt anything in my life from any
person who agreed with me.”