PRESS/81
27October 1997
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
0001 HRS GMT THURSDAY 30OCTOBER 1997
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OFTHE SIGNING OFTHE GENERAL
AGREEMENT ONTARIFFS AND TRADE
Today, 30October 1997, marks the50thanniversary ofthesigning oftheGeneral Agreement
onTariffs andTrade. Below isashort statement fromRenato Ruggiero, Director-General, World Trade
Organization, regarding thisanniversary:
"Today marks the50thanniversary ofthebirthofthemultilateral trading system. Thecreation
ofthissystem surely ranks among thegreatest economic achievements ofthepost-war era.Forthefirst
time, theprinciple ofnon-discrimination intrade relations wasapplied onamultilateral basis. Through
thisprinciple thesame rights ofmarket access were extended toall23oftheoriginal signing nations,
developed anddeveloping alike. Today, theWorld Trade Organization, theoffspring oftheGATT, has
132members, allofwhich haveadopted theprinciple ofnon-discrimination. Itisdifficult tooverstate
thecontribution ofthisbasicprinciple togrowth anddevelopment onaworld scaleandtotheestablishment
ofcloser relations among nations.
"On20May1998, wewillholdahighprofile celebration tomark theoccasion ofthese 50years
andhighlight forthecitizens oftheworld, thecontribution thissystem hasmade toglobal peace and
prosperity."
Note toEditors:
Attached isabrieffact-sheet onthebirthoftheGATT.
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THE BIRTH OFGATT
1947 Thebirth ofGATT. On30October 1947, theGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade (GATT)
wassigned by23nations -twelve developed andeleven developing economies -atthePalais des
NationsinGeneva.TheAgreementcontainedtariffconcessionsagreedtoduringthefirstmultilateral
trade negotiations andasetofrules designed toprevent these concessions from being frustrated
byrestrictive trade measures.
Thegenesis ofGATT. In1946, thenewly-created Economic andSocial Council oftheUnited
Nations called aconference toconsider thecreation oftheInternational Trade Organization (ITO)
which wasenvisaged asthefinallegofatriadofpost-War economic agencies (theother twowere
theInternational Monetary Fund andtheInternational Bank forReconstruction andDevelopment -
latertheWorld Bank). Apreparatory committee wasestablished todrafttheITOcharter.
During1946-1947,thecommitteeworkedonthedraftcharter.However,independentofthisofficial
taskunder theUNmandate, thecommittee members conducted tariff-cutting negotiations among
themselves inadvance oftheITO. These negotiations resulted inabout 45,000 tariff concessions
affecting some US$10billion ofworld trade.
Thecommittee members alsoagreed toprotect thevalue ofthetariffconcessions byearlyacceptance
ofsome ofthetraderulesofthedraftITOcharter. Thus, tariffconcessions andtraderulestogether
became known astheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade (GATT) which wassigned on30
October 1947 by23countries.
1948 Entry intoforce. On1January 1948, GATT entered intoforce. The23founding members were:
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France,
India, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Netherlands, NewZealand, Norway, Pakistan, Southern Rhodesia,
Syria, South Africa, United Kingdom andtheUnited States.
Thefirstrealbusiness oftheGATT wasconducted bytheFirstSession ofContracting Parties
which began on28February 1948andended on20March 1948inHavana, Cuba. Thesecretariat
oftheInterim Commission fortheITO, which served astheadhocsecretariat ofGATT, moved
from Lake Placid, NewYork, toGeneva in1948.
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