India embarked on the road to telecom liberalisation, with the dual goals of promoting efficiency through competition, establishment of world class telecommunications networks and maximising universal access to telecommunications services. Similar changes in most other countries around the world resulted in the need for a central monitor or global regime.

The Global Regime

Despite the inherent weakness of its structure, GATT was an amazingly successful agreement. The limitations of GATT had long been recognised when preparations began for the 1994 Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. The Uruguay round of talks resulted in signing of the "Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994" which codified the entity known as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The greatest strength of the WTO is its ‘dispute resolution mechanism’. This allows small and/or developing economies the opportunity to obtain a fair hearing without being subject to threats of linkage or reprisal. This in turn makes the refusal of any major nation to abide by a WTO ruling politically unacceptable, and brings some degree of parity to international trade for the first time in history. Another strength of the WTO is the fact that it encompasses intellectual property rights under its "Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)". These rights were not addressed under GATT.

WTO in Perspective

The WTO, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, the legal ground-rules for international commerce and for trade policy. The agreements have three main objectives—that of helping trade flow as freely as possible, achieving further liberalisation gradually through negotiation, and setting up an impartial means of settling disputes.

The main functions of WTO are administering ITO trade agreements, providing a forum for trade negotiations, handling trade disputes, monitoring national trade policies, providing technical assistance and training to developing countries, and encouraging co-operation with other international organisations.