Liberalization of trade

Reductions in trade barriers, which restrict commerce within a country or a group of countries.

"Since 1947, when the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created, the world trading system has benefited from eight rounds of multilateral trade liberalization, as well as from unilateral and regional liberalization. Indeed, the last of these eight rounds (the so-called "Uruguay Round" completed in 1994) led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization to help administer the growing body of multilateral trade agreements".
(IMF Staff , Global Trade Liberalization and the Developing Countries, 2001, visited on 2010-12-13)