01253pab a2200133 454500008004000000100002300040245002900063260000900092300001600101362001100117520092800128650002901056773003401085180718b2005   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aDas, Bhagirath Lal  aMultitude of mini - WTOs  c2005  ap.4668-670.  a29 Oct  aCountries around the world are rushing to form bilateral and regional free trade agreements. While bilateral agreements make sense when participating countries are at the same level of development, there are problems when the members are vastly different. There is a danger in this trend of creating innumberable "mini-WTOs" because they are being used by the developed countries to get concessions that they have not been able to extract at the WTO. In some areas it has also become a strategy to soften the developing countries for a future expansion of obligations at the developing countries for a future expansion of obligations at the WTO. The smaller countries for a future expansion of obligations at the WTO. The smaller countries find that the promise of greater market access is very much an illusion. India should keep these experiences in mind as it searches for new free trade groupings to join. - Reproduced.  aWorld Trade Organization  aEconomic and Political Weekly