He added India and other countries should continue to attend the meetings of the WTO as it is a member-driven organisation and it was up to the members to determine the future direction of the body.

Kono emphasised that the process of financial services liberalisation globally should continue despite the financial crisis facing the Asian economies.

While he agreed that unqualified liberalisation could destabilise financial markets further through volatile capital flow, Kono pointed out that GATS permitted financial market regulators to take measures necessary to stabilise financial markets.

Theagreement also provided for safeguards which allows members to restrict transfers and payments in the balance of payment crisis or threat thereof.

Kono added that limiting the liberalisation process would not necessarily prevent recurrence of a crisis. Countries should instead learn to live with liberalisation, learn to use market forces for their benefit by exercising better prudential regulation and supervision, and by adopting the correct liberlisation strategy.

On being asked whether the sanctions imposed on India by countries such as the US was violation of the WTO agreements such as Global Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Kono said he had yet to study the legal implication of the sanctions.

He observed that macroeconomic conditions are not always in favour of quick liberalisation but GATS provided a built-in agenda to achieve progressively higher level of liberalisation in trade in services though successive rounds of multilateral negotiations.

Kono added that liberalisation under GATS wasnot equivalent to liberalisation of capital account.Meanwhile, the fifth protocol of GATS agreed upon on December 12, 1997, is open for acceptance by members concerned till January 29, 1999. This means 70 member countries will be required to complete domestic procedures for ratification by that date.

The new schedules and list contained in this protocol will come into effect from March 1999.Dwelling on future rounds of service negotiation, Kono said the next round covering all service sectors is due to start from year 2000.

Work in preparation for these negotiations has started and the WTO members will now need to develop further strategies for domestic reform in line with the progress in their international commitments.