ABSTRACT
Developing countries1 currently account for about a quarter of world exports, and about the same percentage of world imports.2 Although some developing countries were included within GATT from the outset,3 they had a marginal influence on the original Bretton Woods negotiations.4 By the 1960s, developing countries had come to predominate numerically in the GATT, and during the 1960s and 1970s their share of world trade, and particularly of exports grew rapidly, although in this respect the performance of some developing countries was vastly superior to that of others,5 Indeed, there is substantial heterogeneity amongst developing countries including differences in size, levels of development, levels of indebtedness, composition of trade, degree of concentration of trading relationships, etc.6 Throughout this period, developing countries complained that their influence on the design and functioning of the GATT rules remained marginal, and increasingly pressed demands for more preferential treatment within GATT, as well as attempting to evolve other fora for the creation of rules on trade (particularly, UNCTADthe United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) where they could wield greater influence.
