[Islam-Online- Economy]

Economic Structure:
Most Islamic countries' economies are based on agriculture. Even though the industrial and manufacturing sectors' share of the GDP has considerably increased recently, the agricultural sector remains dominant. Except in a few countries, the backbone of the economy is either agriculture or services. Nearly all Muslim countries of the African continent are primarily agrarian. Some have significant services sectors, too (among those that do not are Egypt and Nigeria). The industrial contribution to the GDP accounted for around 38 percent and 30 percent in Nigeria and Egypt, respectively, which is relatively better than the rest of the continent but unfavorable to world levels. In the case of Nigeria, its relatively large industrial sector is attributed to an abundance of mining reserves.
The Asian Muslim countries have a little more industrial base than the Muslim African countries, especially those that are members of ASEAN-Malaysia and Indonesia. The accumulated share of industrial and manufacturing sectors to GDP in Indonesia is estimated at around 65 percent, while in Malaysia, it is nearly 40 percent. In the South Asian region, Pakistan and Bangladesh have recently augmented the contribution of their industrial and manufacturing sectors to GDP. In both countries, services and agriculture are the two biggest sectors, but the industrial and manufacturing sectors are sizable, too.
In terms of capital-intensiveness, financial reserves, and mining resources, the countries of the Middle Eastern region have a distinct advantage. The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) mainly rely on their oil reserves.
The economic position and structural distribution of the economies of Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, and Jordan are satisfactory. In fact, in these countries prospects for further improvement are fairly high. The countries of the Muslim world are based either on agriculture, industry cum service, or oil exports.
Looking at their diverse potentials, one may conceive of economic integration and cooperation among the Muslim countries. In any case, their dependence on the West may be scaled down in terms of trade and commodity assistance.
Manufacturing distribution indicates that most Muslim countries have attained capable manufacturing levels in (a) consumer products including food items, beverages, and tobacco; and (b) textile and clothing. This is particularly true of Pakistan, Egypt, and the six Central Asian republics, which have an abundance of cotton. Nevertheless, their technical know-how in the field of manufacturing is limited. They therefore export sizable quantities of raw cotton. Almost all of them spend large sums of foreign exchange to import medium and heavy machinery.
Strategic Importance:
The Muslim belt is strategically located. It begins from Morocco and ends in Indonesia, almost touching Australia. The region can be more closely linked together by the principal arteries of communications, i.e., by air, rail, road, and sea. This natural benefit gives it an overriding edge over other regions.

GATT - HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

The inception of GATT took place in 1948 with 23 original signatories, including Pakistan. The current signatories account for around 90 percent of total world trade. The objective of the agreement is to help facilitate world trade through substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers among the signatory countries. Seven rounds of negotiations had been completed before the Uruguay round.
The first round of the agreement was held in 1947 in Geneva (Switzerland). This round saw the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In 1949, the second round took place at Annecy (France). It involved negotiations with nations that desired GATT membership. During discussions special emphasis was laid on tariff reduction. The third round, in 1951, was held at Torquay (England). It continued accession and tariff reduction negotiations. Five years later, the fourth round was held in 1956 in Geneva.
The next round spread over a period of two years (1960-62). It was held in Geneva and was popularly dubbed the Dillon Round. It was concerned with revision of the GATT and the addition of more countries.
Succeeding rounds seemed to take more time to arrive at conclusions. The sixth round covered a period of three years (1964-67) and was again held in Geneva. This round was a hybrid of an earlier product by product approach to negotiations and the new formula tariff reduction approach with across the board tariff reductions. This round is famous as the Kennedy Round. The seventh round of talks, known as the Tokyo Round, was initiated in 1973 and completed in 1979; it also took place in Geneva. It focused on the negotiations of additional tariff cuts and developed a series of arrangements governing the use of a number of nontariff measures. It is considered significant because dynamic measures were tabled and approved. The eighth round was again held in Geneva in September 1986. This round is popularly dubbed the Uruguay Round and its significance is realized by the fact that, in addition to the measures taken for expanding and liberalizing trade, some new areas and disciplines were introduced to strengthen the role of GATT and widen its scope.

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