Gatt forsees world trade leap

(First Edition)

PETER SUTHERLAND, the director of the world trade body Gatt, predicted yesterday that the successful conclusion of the Uruguay round of negotiations would increase the level of trade for industrialised countries by 7 or 8 per cent writes Robert Chote .

He told a meeting of the annual conferences of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that the gains for developing countries would be even greater, with the Gatt's most conservative estimate showing that trade would be 14 per cent higher than without the Uruguay round.

But Mr Sutherland added that these estimates did not include the benefits of agreement on services and intellectual property and strengthening of multilateral trade rules, procedures and institutions. Mr Sutherland said he was hopeful that a 'significant and adequate weight of governments' would have ratified the long-awaited Uruguay round agreement by the end of the year.