Developing Countries and GATS Negotiations: The Case of India

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.