Introduction

The negotiations for the creation of an International Trade Organisation (ITO) never reached fruition, though the interim General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in fact survived and partially fulfilled some of the objectives of the planned ITO. The Plan itself gives lucid expression to its objectives summarised in the list of requirements below : To achieve these objectives Keynes proposed an International Clearing Union which would operate with a new currency for which he suggested the name 'bancor'. Fortunately en route to ITO the Americans had put together in 1946 a draft charter for a general agreement on tariffs, trade and proposed that the provisional rules intended for ITO be incorporated in this. The first UNCTAD met in Geneva in 1964 as an alternative forum for the discussion of the trade and aid problems of the developing countries. As noted above in the section dealing with GATT these represent an important exception to the GATT general principle of non-discrimination.