Trade in Services

Abstract

Much of the motivation for the fresh look at services trade comes from the Group of Negotiations on Services (GNS) being conducted in the context of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. The realization that services, which generate substantial employment, gross domestic product, and a surprising amount of world trade, has encouraged the establishment of several study centers devoted to services. For example, the Services World Forum meets annually in Geneva to compare notes on the discoveries made concerning the global service economy (Bressand and Nicolaïdis, 1989). Other Geneva based organizations dealing with services topics include the Research Programme on the Service Economy (PROGRES), The Geneva Association, and the Applied Service Economic Centre. The Fishman-Davidson Center for the Study of the Service Sector was established in 1982 at the Wharton School and has made significant contributions already (e.g. Inman, 1985). National coalitions of service industries have organized in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Sweden, Argentina, New Zealand and Hong Kong. In addition to coordinating the interests of service industries domestically, the coalitions have held their sixth annual international conference in 1990 to discuss topics of mutual interest at an international level.