ABSTRACT
A period of stagnation in world trade, pervasive drift to protectionism and erosion of confidence in the multilateral trading system followed suprisingly close on the heels of the Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations, completed in 1979, which was designed to strengthen the system and liberalise trade. Already in the early 1980s these developments were beginning to be seen as a danger signal to the trading system. The GATT Ministerial meeting of November 1982, considering the multilateral trading system to be in serious danger, took a number of decisions on strengthening the system and initiated an elaborate work programme to this end. The sharply deteriorating international economic situation, the large amount of unfinished business from the Tokyo Round and lack of progress in the GATT work programme soon made it clear, however, that a new round of multilateral negotiations had become necessary. Those negotiations, the Uruguay Round, started with the Punta del Este Ministerial Declaration of September 1986 and were completed in December 1993. Some three years behind schedule, the agreement under the Uruguay Round comes into effect on 1 January 1995, subject to ratification, with implementation of some of its major elements spread over the next 10 years.
