To answer these and other questions on this vast initiative in global economic integration and liberalization, the WTO Secretariat has published a 400-page history of the negotiations “RESHAPING THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM - A History of the Uruguay Round”(1).

The author, John Croome, was a senior official in the GATT Secretariat for 23 years, until 1993, having previously worked for EFTA, the World Bank and The Guardian newspaper. Avoiding technical 'GATTspeak', he lifts the curtain on the drama behind the negotiations, including the conclusion of the Final Act. Through wide access to the many hundreds of official and unofficial documents, internal memoranda, press reports, private meeting notes and, of course, personal memory the story is told in a frank, lively and non-technical narrative.

Review copies of this book are available from the WTO information Division - Phone: 41 22 739 5007/5019, Fax: 41 22 739 5458.

(1)“Reshaping the World Trading System”, priced Sfr 40.-, is available in English from the WTO Secretariat, Publications Services, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Geneva 21.