Introduction: World Trade Organization, Trade and Opportunities

After completion of the Second World War, a number of countries came forward to participate in the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiating forums, to secure trade reforms. However, given the persistence of protectionist policies in the form of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), despite certain progress on tariff reforms, the countries eventually agreed to form the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The rule-based operational procedure under the new forum was expected to promote ‘fair trade’ by reducing different form of trade barriers. Moreover, wider coverage of the agreement, e.g., inclusion of newer areas like agricultural sector, trade in services, trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) etc. enhanced the attraction of embracing the WTO reforms both to the developed and developing countries. Despite the considerable success reaped by the multilateral forum over the past three decades, the journey towards ‘fair trade’ is, however, not yet complete. In coming future, the WTO negotiations on existing and newer areas will continue to get influenced by country-specific drivers and anticipated gain perceptions. While the newly acceding member countries will focus on obtaining greater market access for export promotion, the existing members will always evaluate any potential gains more cautiously and move forward only when anticipated gains outweigh their potential losses.