"It is imperative that India should continue to sustain the economic growth to ensure the welfare of the greater masses," says Dr. A Besant C Raj, Chairman, IU and Besant Raj International Ltd.Since 1941, several nations of the world have attempted to evolve a system under which multilateral trade among nations can be carried out smoothly. Since the first round in 1941 at Geneva with 23 participant nations, several rounds have been conducted for this purpose ending with the now well-known Uruguay Round conducted again at Geneva between 1986 and 1993 with 117 member nations. At the end of these meetings, GATT (General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades) gave way to the establishment of a permanent organization to guide multilateral trade, namely, the World Trade Organization (WTO). Given the wide variances among member nations at the economic level, member nations were classified into 3 categories, viz. developed, developing and least developed. At the end of the Uruguay Round, the member nations including India, agreed on the following:
Basically it was agreed that each member nation will extend to the other member nations, for purposes of international trade, the Most Favored Nations (MFN) status and the products of these countries will be given national treatment, that is, treated as if they are national products by each member country. The entry of goods from a member country will be without any quantitative restriction or quotas. Member countries should respect the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of other members. Patent rights on intellectual property will be for a period of 20 years and the patent holder will have the exclusive right to market his product/process/service for a period of 5 years in any member country. All exports from member countries should satisfy certain phytosanitary measures in order to protect human, animal and plant lives. It was agreed that all the agreements will be implemented fully, but in a phased manner, by developed countries in 5 years; developing countries in 10 years; and by least developed countries in 15 years.
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