General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Celebrates 75^th Anniversary

· Seventy-five years ago, on 30 October 1947, 23 countries (including India) signed the Final Act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

· The GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods.

· The world trading system is firmly embedded in the current geopolitical order

· A return to economic nationalism and fragmentation is not just economically costly but dangerous.

Seventy-five years ago, on 30 October 1947, 23 countries signed the Final Act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Devised as a temporary agreement that would boost international trade, the GATT regulated world trade for almost 50 years before being succeeded by the birth of the World Trade Organization in 1995. However, the GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods.

GATT's durability owes much to the fact that it is underpinned by simple principles, such as non-discrimination, gradual reform through successive rounds of negotiations, and flexibility in the form of exceptions allowing members space for domestic policies.

It is a century-long efforts of nations to come up with a well-functioning trading system, beginning with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860 between the United Kingdom and France. The League of Nations fostered the discussion of trading principles which would culminate with the adoption of the GATT in 1947.