INTRODUCTION

It took the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) more than seven years to finish its ambitious agenda-at least in part. The Round started in September 1986 in Uruguay with the Punta del Este Ministerial Declaration and was terminated in December 1993, about three years behind schedule. It was the longest and most comprehensive round of those periodic multilateral trade negotiations required by the GATT after the first agreement was signed by twenty-three signatory states in 1947. In the Uruguay Round negotiations 117 countries participated of which 88 were developing countries. The agreement came into effect on 1 January 1995 and established the World Trade Organization (WTO) which succeeds on a more comprehensive base what was formerly known as the GATT.