Regional Trade Agreements in Asia - Implications for the Multilateral Trade System

The past two decades have seen the emergence of two paradoxical developments in international trade policy making. The multilateral trade system (MTS) has grown and expanded to include 149 member countries. Most of the new members are developing countries and their accession was interpreted as a vote of confidence in the system to promote economic development and poverty reduction. The creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, brought the Uruguay Round to a conclusion as the most ambitious round of multilateral trade negotiations since the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947. Global trade rules were extended to new areas including services and agriculture, trade protectionism was tackled and GATT rules were explicitly provided with an international organisation to administer them in the form of the WTO.