The Impact of the Uruguay Round on World Economy

International trade as an engine for economic growth is anaccepted proposition in modern economic literature. Statistical andeconometric analysis of crosssection and time-series data of the growthin exports and growth in GOP shows a very high correlation between thetwo. Normally growth in exports is twice or more than the growth in GOPfor most fast-growing economies particularly the East Asian Tigers.There is hardly any country which over a decade has had a growth in GOPhigher than the average rate of growth of exports in that decade. Exportled growth has been vindicated by one economy after another specially inEast Asia. It is therefore of great importance that the internationaltrading system allows the free flow of goods in order to promote thegrowth of the world economy as a whole. After the Second World War,plans were drawn up for an International Trade Organisation (ITO) atHavana but when the US Congress declined to approve it, it was dropped.The demise of the ITO, however did not do away with the need for aninternational organisation to deal with negotiations for reducing tariffand non-tariff barriers to international trade. Twenty-three nationsagreed to continue extensive tariff negotiations for trade concessionsat Geneva which were incorporated in a General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT). GATT has provided a permanent platform for reducing tradebarriers. The fundamental objective of GATT is to achieve free tradethrough reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers on the basis ofnon-discrimination, reciprocity and nationaltreatment