Chapter 02:GATT and WTO

In order to help trade among different countries and continents, the international community has come together, discussed and agreed upon certain policies to be adopted. Such policies are called treaties.

GATT:

General Agreement and Trade & Tarifs (GATT) is an international trade treaty. It was signed in 1947 by a group of 123 countries. It is a multi-lateral global initiatives. Multi-lateral treaty allows countries to trade between two or group of countries. GATT has no enforcing powers. Many barriers such a legal, language issues, distances causes bottlenecks in the formulation and implementation of GATT. Trade disputes took long times to settle.

WTO:

WTO ( World Trade Organization) was created in 1995 as a successor to GATT and was intended to overcome its limitations. It intends to facilitate multi-lateral trade agreements and hopes to eliminate tariffs. WTO has the following objectives

1. harnessing world's resources to increase income and standard of livings, creation of employments
2. Create equality among rich and poorly developed countries and share growth
3. Keep track of trade related activities, member countries inform WTO about their trade agreements

WTO and India

India is a member of GATT and WTO since their inception. India has taken active role and participation in international trade associations. It is also a member of G-21. By such participation India can ensure safeguards against any unilateral agreements between developed countries.