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Within a short span of time a number of economic blocs have emerged on the world horizon. In this race, all countries-developed, developing and underdeveloped-are included. Members of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Economic Community (EEC) are primarily of the developed countries, while the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are of the developing and underdeveloped Asian countries.
The developed countries are scrambling to create hegemonies through the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT).In these circumstances, economic cooperation among Muslim countries should be on the top of their agenda.
Muslim countries today constitute about one-third of the membership of the United Nations. There are around 56 independent Muslim states with a population of around 800 million covering about 20 percent of the land area of the world. Stretching between Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the Muslim World straddles from North Africa to Indonesia, in two major Islamic blocs, they are concentrated in the heart of Africa to Indonesia, in two major blocs, they are concentrated in the heart of Africa and Asia and a smaller group in South and Southeast Asia.(1)
GATT is a multilateral agreement on tariffs and trade establishing the code of rules, regulations, and modalities regulating and operating international trade. It also serves as a forum for discussions and negotiations regarding trade barriers and other trade distorting measures which linger on trade among countries. The agreement was conceived to encourage and liberalize world trade.
The present study consists of three sections. Section 1 reviews the potential strengths of the Muslim world. Section 2 highlights historical perspectives on GATT and the main agreements which were taken up during the Uruguay round of talks on GATT. Section 3 analyzes the effects of the Uruguay round of talks on GATT on the Muslim world.
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