With the journey of GATT to WTO and the move away form bilateralism to multilateralism, the trade is now subjected to strict multilateral trade obligations of most favoured nations, national treatment clauses, international scrutiny and above all transparency.
However, the WTO obligations do not seem to work equally between the developed and developing countries which are at the receiving end only and pushed out of global decision making. The developing countries are at different stages of development process and the equal treatment of unequals is not justified. However, the developing countries have to do lot of restructuring to reap the benefits of global trade otherwise the gains will go to the developed countries. This has led to the new international economic order with the creation of many trading blocks that have the common cause and bargaining position under thee agreements.
The book convincingly examines how far the provisions of GATT/WTO are consistent with the needs and requirements of the developing countries and what modifications are necessary to make them more rational and appropriate. It analysis the outcome of Uruguay Round as mixed bag of costs and benefits for LDC’s with special reference to India. A comprehensive review of the problems being faced by less developed countries and GATT/WTO’s policies towards these countries are evaluated.
Overall, a performance evaluation of various GATT/WTO Rounds has been done and in the light of this review, its implications for LDC’s to make improvement in its various policy provisions have been examined, so that the agreement between the contracting parties contributes effectively to the attainment of its objectives. |
