40 years ago September 21, 1986: Global trade talks

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on September 21, 1986.

2 min readSep 21, 2026 06:42 AM IST First published on: Sep 21, 2026 at 06:40 AM IST

Ministers from more than 70 nations meeting at Punta Del Este have agreed to launch a new round of global trade negotiations that will cover goods and services in separate parts, according to a declaration proposed to be adopted by them. To carry out multilateral trade negotiations, the draft declaration announced the establishment of a trade negotiations committee. which shall hold its first meeting “not later than” October 31. The document drew a distinction between negotiations on trade in goods — to be conducted by the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade — and those on trade in services — to be conducted by “ministers”.