GATT and the Emergence of the World Trade Organisation

Abstract

I met Soumyen Mukherjee in Sydney in 1971 for the first time during the Vietnam Moratorium days. I was impressed by his radical humanism, his concern for oppressed people everywhere particularly in India, and his search for the correct way of understanding historical materialism. I was very pleased to have a fellow Bengali to teach history at the University of Sydney. I talked to him a lot during the days he was the Director for the Centre for Indian Studies. I am convinced that here is a scholar who stands for non-racism, non-alignment and anti-imperialism. Soumyen has become a trusted friend who will never let his friends down and who is truly international in outlook. Narrow domestic and sectarian approaches to history outrage him and he is prepared to denounce them in the strongest possible manner. He does not listen to fools easily and is prepared to fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party. I sincerely hope that this paper will stimulate his approach towards international trade and development issues.