Since the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1)

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• Business Environment
• CASE STUDY (20 Marks)
• Since the formation of the General
  Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947,
  its main objective has been to promote
  international trade between nations by reducing
  agricultural tariffs, export subsidies and
  domestic support, the major barriers to trade. To
  achieve its objective, GATT monitored eight
  rounds of negotiations starting with Geneva round
  in 1947 to the Uruguay round that lasted for 9
  years. However, except the Uruguay round that
  succeeded in setting targets regarding reduction
  in tariffs, domestic support and subsidies by
  both developed and developing countries none of
  the rounds was successful. What were the reasons
  for the continuous failure of the rounds, when
  the objective of all the member countries has
  been the same? n 1995, World Trade Organization
  (WTO) replaced GATT to carry forward the same
  noble objective remove barriers and uplift the
  developing nations.

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• The major negotiating round post WTOs
  formation was The Doha Development Round in
  July 2008. However, not surprisingly, this round
  also collapsed on the 9th day on the issue of
  usage of Special Safeguard Mechanism by
  developing countries. Interestingly, Regional
  Trade Agreements (RTAs) between two or three
  neighboring countries have had a higher rate of
  success than Multilateral Trade Agreements
  (MTAs). When RTAs could be successful, why
  couldnt developing and developed countries meet
  on a consensus with regard to MTAs? In spite of
  benefits from trade liberalization, why do these
  trade negotiations continuously fail? Who should
  be blamed for the failure of the Doha Round? The
  case delves into the same issues. On November
  15th 2008, few of the member countries decided to
  conclude the Doha round and meet in December 2008
  for the same. Will this round be successful? The
  case also explores into the measures that need to
  be taken to make all the member countries think
  and act alike.

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• Answer the following question.
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• Q1. Explain the historical relevance of formation
  of WTO (GATT) and other MTAs.
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• Q2. Explain the difficulties in reaching
  consensus in MTAs and implementing those policies
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• Q3. Analyze the reasons for the failure of Doha
  round of trade negotiations.
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• Q4. Debate the way forward for this impasse and
  reflect on the relevance of MTAs in the light of
  increasing globalization and bilateral trade in
  the world.
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