ABSTRACT
During the period from UNCTAD I in 1964 to UNCTAD III in 1972, tariff and nontariff barriers in developed countries constituted a variety of obstacles to the expansion and diversification of exports from LDCs. These sessions concentrated on the development of commodity agreements. The other aim of the UNCTAD meetings was to promote the liberalization of trade exports of LDCs to DCs on a generalized scheme of preference, which would grant preferential tariffs to LDCs, giving them advantageous access to the rich markets in DCs. These repeated attempts by the Group of seventy-seven countries to obtain trade concessions from DCs resulted in failure and confrontation, except for the generalized scheme of preference which GATT later adopted. However, the actual tariff concessions granted little visible benefit to LDCs.
