Synopsis The General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) is included as Annexe IV to the final text of the Uruguay round agreement. It provides a multilateral framework of principles and rules which should Govern Trade in Services under conditions of transparency and progressive liberalization. It spells out certain general obligations such as extension of MFN principle, maintenance of transparency and a commitment for liberalization in general terms. GATS has been called an empty box from which the LDCs have little to fear and little to gain. In a negotiating process, schedules by definition cannot be unilateral; they have to be negotiated with other partners. It is also claimed that the MFN provision of the GATS will provide the LDCs export opportunities in many sectors even if the LDCs do not give commitments on market access and national treatment. Negotiations on financial services and movement of natural persons have just been concluded. These improve upon the commitments that were made in the national schedules. This series is dedicated to Raul Prebisch who underlined the dynamics of the world economy and the interdependence between the industrial countries of the North and the LDCs of the South.