Trade and Development in GATT and the WTO

Abstract

The increasing integration of developing countries in the world economy since the start of the 1980s has occurred in the context of a changing international and institutional environment in respect of the rules affecting developing-country participation in international trade. In particular, the establishment of the WTO in 1995 introduced profound changes to the institutional and legal setting for the conduct of trade. The rules affecting developing-country participation in the multilateral trade system have reflected, sometimes with a considerable lag, the evolution in the thinking about the role of trade in development.