Economic Times ⁽²¹⁸⁾

Defining the agenda is the first stage of a negotiating game, which every player must take with utmost seriousness. Economic Times, September 22, 1999 From November 30 to December 3, 1999, representatives of the 134 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet in Seattle for the 3rd WTO Ministerial Conference. Unlike its predecessor, this is not a routine Conference: it will define the agenda for a new round of multilateral trade negotiations and, thus, influence the future course of the global trading system. Defining the agenda is the first stage of a negotiating game, which every player must take with utmost seriousness. Seasoned players such as the United States carefully choose their opening moves to ascertain that the outcome is the one desired by them. In the same vein, it is crucial for developing countries to arrive at an agenda that will serve their interests and forcefully push for it at Seattle. Under the current circumstances, it is best to limit the Seattle Round agenda to liberalization in industrial products plus the Uruguay Round (UR) built-in agenda.

How can developing countries maximize the benefits from the Internet and how should they approach the issue at WTO? Economic Times, July 28 1999 Internet is undisputedly the most important mode of commerce invented in the last two decades. The same way that advances in shipping brought down the cost international trade in goods during 1960s and 1970s, Internet has brought down the cost of international trade in services. Thanks to this mode of "transportation," many previously nontradable services are now internationally traded. In the United States, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become the fastest-growing sector of the economy. For many services, Internet has eliminated the need for physical presence of the provider. If a City Bank official in New York encounters a programming problem late in the day, she does not have to wait for a consultant to come to the office to solve it. Instead, using Internet, she can instantly ship the problem to a firm in Bangalore. Taking advantage of the time difference between the two cities, the firm can ship back the solution before the official returns…

Anti-dumping is turning into a lethal instrument of protection in India. Does its aggressive use make sense? Economic Times, June 30, 1999 An ominous development on the trade-policy front in recent years has been the rise of anti-dumping actions. Till 1992, we had never imposed anti-dumping duties. But by early 1998, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) carried out our second Trade Policy Review, we had initiated as many as 45 anti-dumping cases, covering 18 products. In 11 cases, definitive duties had been imposed. In only two cases, petitions got thrown out due to a ruling of no injury to the local industry. This trend has remained unchanged in the last year, with several new products being subject to anti-dumping actions. Under The criteria laid down in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), it is relatively easy to prosecute foreign firms for dumping. The anti-dumping authority has to only show that the foreign firm has sold the product at prices below what it charged in its own domestic market and that such sales have resulted in injury to…

(Full text and external link unavailable) On a net basis, developing countries play the role of the `host' country to foreign investment while developed countries serve as the `source' country. This asymmetry leads to a divergence in the interests of developing and developed countries. Thus, the issue has a clear North-South dimension.

The Uruguay Round (UR) Agreement stipulates that, beginning January 1, 2000, WTO members will launch a round of negotiations for trade liberalisation in agriculture and services. With that date approaching, there is now a talk in international policy circles of a millennium round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTNs). How should the developing countries such as India approach this development? Economic Times, December 14, 1998 The Uruguay Round (UR) Agreement stipulates that, beginning January 1, 2000, WTO members will launch a round of negotiations for trade liberalisation in agriculture and services. With that date approaching, there is now a talk in international policy circles of a millennium round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTNs). In all likelihood, the next WTO Ministerial, to be held in Washington, D.C. next year, will begin giving shape to the agenda for such a round. How should the developing countries such as India approach this development? Prior to the Uruguay Round, developing countries had not participated actively in the MTNs. On the one hand, this fact gave developing countries a ``free ride''; under the Most Favoured Nation…