THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM–PAST,
PRESENT AND FUTURE
The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the
international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War.
So while the WTO is still young, the multilateral trading system that was originally set up
under GATT is well over 50 years old.
The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growth in world trade. Merchandise exports
grew on average by 6% annually. Total trade in 2000 was 22-times the level of 1950.
GATT and the WTO have helped to create a strong and prosperous trading system
contributing to unprecedented growth.
The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds, held under
GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but later negotiations included
other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures. The last round – the 1986-94
Uruguay Round – led to the WTO’s creation.
The negotiations did not end there. Some continued after the end of the Uruguay Round.
In February 1997 an agreement was reached on telecommunications services, with 69
governments agreeing to wide-ranging liberalization measures that went beyond those
agreed in the Uruguay Round.
In the same year, 40 governments successfully concluded negotiations for tariff-free trade
in information technology products, and 70 members concluded a financial services deal
covering more than 95% of trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial
information.
In 2000, new talks started on agriculture and services. These have now been incorporated
into a broader work programme, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), launched at the
fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001.
The agenda adds negotiations and other work on non-agricultural tariffs, trade and
environment, WTO rules such as anti-dumping and subsidies, investment, competition
policy, trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, intellectual property,
and a range of issues raised by developing countries as difficulties they face in
implementing the present WTO agreements.