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Gats - Indian Case

Global Economy Journal
Volume 5, Issue 2 2005 Article 1

Developing Countries and GATS Negotiations: The Case of India
Arpita Mukherjee∗

Indian Council arpita@icrier.res.in

∗

For

Research

on

International

Economic

Relations

(ICRIER),

Copyright c 2005 by the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, bepress, which has been given certain exclusive rights by the author. Global Economy Journal is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). http://www.bepress.com/gej

Developing Countries and GATS Negotiations: The Case of India∗
Arpita Mukherjee

Abstract
The Doha Round of GATS negotiations is on-going. In this context, this paper argues that developing countries such as India have created niche for themselves in particular services exports and, therefore, should actively participate in the negotiations to remove barriers in sectors/modes of their trade interest. It identified various strategies for negotiations for developing countries, such as formation of coalition on particular issues/sectors/modes with like-minded trading partners and offering binding commitments in Mode 3 in return for greater market access in Modes 1 and 4. The commitments of developing countries should take into account the inter-sectoral and intermodal linkages. Lastly, the paper stresses on the need for complementary domestic reforms which would enable developing countries to gain from multilateral liberalization. KEYWORDS: GATS and Developing Countries, India and GATS, Trade in Services

∗

Sukanya Ghosh, ICRIER provided valuable research assistance.

Mukherjee: Developing Countries and GATS Negotiations: The Case of India

INTRODUCTION The role of service sectors in development of national economies is now...