10
policy-making to match their needs, whether in
economic development or trade negotiations.
2.5.
An important response of the international
community to the globalization of trade has been the
creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO),
which entered into force on 1 January 1995 as the
major outcome of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade negotiations. WTO provides a common
institutional framework for the conduct of trade
relations among its member countries. Its main
functions are to
facilitate the implementation,
administration and operation of the multilateral trade
agreements; to provide a forum for further
negotiations; to review national trade policies; and to
secure positive solutions to trade disputes. The three
principal WTO agreements are the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994, the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and
the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights. GATS is the first set of
legally enforceable
disciplines and rules ever
negotiated and agreed at the world level to cover
international trade in services.
19
2.6. Trade negotiators require statistics as a guide to
negotiate specific commitments in trade in services
and thereafter to monitor compliance and the resulting
changes for each type of service. Statistics can aid the
evaluation of market access opportunities; inform
decisions on negotiating priorities and strategy;
support the comparison of commitments;
facilitate the
assessment of the extent of liberalization achieved in
specific services and markets; and provide a statistical
background for the settling of disputes. Private
business also needs the information in order to be
aware of the possibilities offered by trade
liberalization. The analysis of markets for whatever
purpose also requires that trade data can be linked to
output data, whether in terms of activities or of
products.
2.7. The
Manual acknowledges the tight constraints
under which
statistical compilers operate, whether in
national statistics offices, central banks or other
institutions, as well as the need not to burden private
enterprise unduly, while still providing a clear
ultimate goal for a conceptually complete framework.
19 .
World Trade Organization,
The Results of the Uruguay Round
of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal Texts (Geneva,
1995), annex 1B.
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