The Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) is an interregional preferential trade agreement among developing countriesUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development.“Fact Sheet: Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP).”UNCTAD/DITC/MISC/2026/14, 19 May 2026 . Signed on 13 April 1988, it entered into force on 19 April 1989 and currently has 42 participants, including seven least developed countriesUnited Nations. “Agreement on the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries.” United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 1534, no. 26581, 1989. . The agreement was negotiated with the support of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Global System of Trade Preferences.” 16 June 2004. .
The Agreement is legally covered under the Enabling Clause of GATT 1994, which permits developing countries to exchange preferential tariff reductions through regional or global arrangements without extending those preferences to all WTO members under the most-favoured-nation principleWorld Trade Organization. “Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (‘Enabling Clause’).” Decision of 28 November 1979. .
The Agreement was initiated by UNCTAD to promote trade among developing countries, thereby fostering economic growth and South-South cooperation and has its roots in the Group of 77, a coalition of 134 developing countries created in 1964 to increase their negotiating leverage and promote their economic interests.
The GSTP is a framework for preferential tariff reductions and other measures of cooperation, including "para-tariffs, non-tariff measures, direct trade measures including medium and long-term contracts and sectoral agreements", to stimulate trade between developing countries. Today, only preferential tariffs are covered by the agreement.
Through the GSTP, participants aim to promote economic growth and development by expanding South-South trade. The Committee of Participants (COP) is the highest decision-making organ and oversees the operation of the Agreement, while the UNCTAD secretariat provides substantive and technical support.
History Background The first efforts to implement a preferential trading system at the plurilateral level that would encompass developing countries started in the mid-60s.
Following the establishment of the GATT Committee on Trade and Development in 1965, the Group on Expansion of Trade among Developing Countries was set up to analyse the dynamics of trade among developing countries"Trade and Development". United States Trade Representative. . In 1967, the first meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee of Developing Countries in GATT was held. The Committee's aim was to collect lists of exports and concessions from developing countries in order to identify a common basis for negotiationsGATT Secretariat. “Protocol Relating to Trade Negotiations Among Developing Countries.” CPC/W/41. .
In 1971 a Protocol on Trade Negotiations among Developing Countries (PTN) was agreed under the auspices of the Trade Negotiations Committee of Developing Countries and signed by 16 countries (Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Greece, India, Israel, Korea, Pakistan, Peru, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, Mexico and the Philippines), entering into force in 1973"General agreement on tariffs and trade". rtais.wto.org. 18 October 1971. Retrieved 31 March 2023. .
As stated in the Protocol, the countries "agreed that the establishment of preferences among developing countries, appropriately administered and subject to the necessary safeguards, could make an important contribution to the trade among developing countries, and that such arrangements should be looked at in a constructive and forward-looking spirit". The protocol covered 740 tariff positions, of which about one third covered agricultural products and raw materialsUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Global System of Trade Preferences.” .
In parallel, the Group of 77 was working to promote the change necessary to realise the conditions that would foster economic development for developing countries. During the 1976 Mexico City Conference on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries, a detailed programme on economic co-operation was compiled. The programme covered trade extensively and provided the conceptual basis for the GSTP. In fact, section XV. "Trade among developing countries" expressly mentioned the intention to "review all tariff and non-tariff problems relating to development of trade among developing countries" and "establish a system of trade preferences among developing countries at the subregional, regional, and interregional levels. Such a system should not allow the extension to developed countries of preferences granted to developing countries".
The programme would be endorsed during the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 in Arusha in 1979 and developed further in Caracas in 1981.
Negotiations In 1982, Ministers of Foreign Affairs belonging to the Group of 77 met in New York and defined the main components of the Agreement, establishing the negotiations framework as well. The Group of 77 began preparatory work in Geneva in 1984 with Ministerial impetus provided in 1985 through the New Delhi Ministerial Meeting.
It is during the Ministerial Meeting in Brasilia in 1986 that the GSTP was established as a provisional legal framework. The negotiations on the text of the Agreement were to be completed two years after in Belgrade, jointly with the first round of tariff reduction negotiations.
In April 1989, when the Agreement entered into force, the schedules of tariff concessions covered about 1,800 tariff items. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, which accounted for the bulk of the concessions, coverage fell to around 1,000 products; Romania's withdrawal in 2007 reduced it further below 1,000 tariff items.
In 1992, participants launched a Second Round of negotiations in Tehran to broaden and deepen tariff concessions. The round concluded in 1998, when 24 of the 43 participants granted concessions covering about 900 tariff items, but those concessions were not ratifiedUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The Potential of the GSTP: The Case of Agricultural Trade – GSTP Technical Note No. 2. 2025. .
São Paulo Round In 2004, GSTP participants abandoned efforts to ratify the Second Round concessions and launched a third round of negotiations, the São Paulo Round, at UNCTAD XI in São Paulo, BrazilUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. São Paulo Declaration on the Launching of the Third Round of Negotiations within the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP). UNCTAD/DITC/MISC/2004/10, 2004. . The round aimed to broaden and deepen tariff concessions, particularly to promote interregional trade among participants.
Under the authority of the GSTP Negotiating Committee, 22 participants took part in the São Paulo Round: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (forming Mercosur), Algeria, Chile, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam and ZimbabweUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Agreement Reached on New Pact for Global System of Trade Preferences.” 16 December 2010. .
Ministerial guidance was provided in April 2008 at UNCTAD XII in Accra, Ghana. In December 2009 in Geneva, ministers adopted modalities for the exchange of tariff concessionsGlobal System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries. Ministerial Decision on Modalities. SPR/NC/MM/1, 2 December 2009. . Participants were to reduce applied most-favoured-nation tariffs by at least 20 per cent on at least 70 per cent of their dutiable tariff lines. For participants whose duty-free tariff lines accounted for more than half of the national tariff, the same cut applied to at least 60 per cent of dutiable lines. The modalities also provided differential and more favourable treatment for least developed countries.
The round concluded on 15–16 December 2010 at a ministerial meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. Eight participants—11 countries when the four Mercosur member states are counted separately—exchanged tariff concessions and adopted the São Paulo Round Protocol: Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and the Republic of KoreaGlobal System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries. São Paulo Round Protocol to the Agreement on the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries. SPR/NC/FOZ/3, 15 December 2010. . The Protocol provides that other GSTP participants may accede after its entry into force by submitting proposed tariff schedules based on the same reduction modalities. Implementation
Under paragraph 10 (c) of the Protocol, the results of the São Paulo Round will enter into force with the ratification of at least four countries. Currently, Argentina (2018), Brazil (2022), Cuba (2013), India (2010), Malaysia (2011) and Uruguay (2017) ratified the Agreement. However, ratification by all four members of Mercosur is required for the Protocol to be deemed to have been ratified by Mercosur as a group, as the group maintains a single schedule of tariff concessions as a customs union with common external tariffs. Pending one more ratification, the São Paulo Round results remain to be implemented.
Under paragraph 10(c) of the Protocol, the São Paulo Round results enter into force after ratification or acceptance by at least four participants.
In April 2011, the Committee of Participants established the Sub-Committee of Signatories to supervise implementation of the São Paulo Round results and the Working Group on Rules of Origin to examine possible revisions to the GSTP rules of originUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Review of the Technical Cooperation Activities of UNCTAD and Their Financing – Annex I: Review of Activities Undertaken in 2011. TD/B/WP/243/Add.1. .
Currently, Argentina (2018), Brazil (2022), Cuba (2013), India (2010), Malaysia (2011) and Uruguay (2017) ratified the Agreement. However, ratification by all four members of Mercosur is required for the Protocol to be deemed to have been ratified by Mercosur as a group, as the group maintains a single schedule of tariff concessions as a customs union with common external tariffs. Pending one more ratification, the São Paulo Round results remain to be implementedUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “Key South-South trade agreement moves closer to implementation.” 24 July 2026. .
At UNCTAD XVI in October 2025, a ministerial-level special session of the Committee of Participants—the first such session since 2012—adopted a joint communiqué acknowledging ongoing technical work to prepare for the Protocol's entry into forceGlobal System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries. Joint Communiqué of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global System of Trade Preferences at UNCTAD XVI. GSTP/CP/SS/U16/1, 30 October 2025. .
Membership GSTP membership and São Paulo Round participants GSTP Members (42) Participating in the “São Paulo Round” Signatory members of the final Protocol of the “São Paulo Round” Ratification Yes Yes Through MERCOSUR Yes Yes Through MERCOSUR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Through MERCOSUR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Through MERCOSUR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Former members: Yugoslavia (from 1989-04-19 until dissolution), Romania (from 1989-04-19 until its EU membership), Colombia (from 1989-04-19 until 2017).
Implications for South-South trade