Uruguay Round
An introduction to the most important multilateral trade negotiation of the 20th century, which has laid down the framework for international trade in the 21st century and led to the creation of the World Trade Organization.
Uruguay Round was the eight-round of trade negotiations including numerous countries from 1986 to 1993. This round had signatories representing 123 countries. The need for the Uruguay round arose to bring areas such as agriculture and textiles which earlier were not under the mandate of GATT.
The first round started from Geneva in 1947 with 23 participating countries; leading to the signing of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which was the de-facto international trade rulebook with the maximum number of countries in the world following at that point of time.
Uruguay Round was the last round to conclude. The ninth round, also termed the Doha Round started in 2001 with 159 participating countries but is still to be concluded.
Features of Uruguay Round:
- Trade of services — was not included in earlier rounds, only goods were covered earlier
- Intellectual property rights— inclusion/extension from earlier rounds
- WTO was established providing a forum for dispute settlement
- Major reduction in tariffs (achievement: tariff reduction for pulp and paper products) and agreement on agricultural subsidies including forest produce including plywood (EU forcibly had to modify its tariff quota system for plywood in order to complete the negotiations)
The Uruguay Round provisionally concluded in December 1993 but was formally signed at Marrakesh, Morroco in April 1994.
