Match the following items. List I | List II i. Global System of Trade Preferences | a. 2021 ii. India-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement | b. 1988 iii. The India-Republic of Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement | c. 2004 iv. 7th Trade Policy Review | d. 2010
- (a)i (d), ii (a), iii (b), iv (c)
- (b)i (b), ii (a), iii (d), iv (c)
- (c)i (c), ii (d), iii (a), iv (b)
- (d)i (b), ii (c), iii (d), iv (a)
Answer
Why
Correct — D. Fix the two dates you are surest of and the rest falls out.
i. Global System of Trade Preferences was signed at Belgrade on 13 April 1988, so i takes 1988.
ii. The paper lists the India-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement. The instrument signed at New Delhi on 25 August 2004 is the India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation, so ii takes 2004.
iii. India-Republic of Korea CEPA was signed in August 2009 and came into force on 1 January 2010, so iii takes 2010.
iv. 7th Trade Policy Review of India at the WTO was held on 6 and 8 January 2021, so iv takes 2021.
That is i-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-a.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)i (d), ii (a), iii (b), iv (c) — It sends the GSTP to 2010 and the Trade Policy Review to 2004. The GSTP is the oldest instrument on the list, from 1988, so it cannot carry a recent date.
- (b)i (b), ii (a), iii (d), iv (c) — It gets i and iii right and then swaps the remaining pair, putting the India-GCC entry at 2021 and the review at 2004. India's seventh review was held in January 2021.
- (c)i (c), ii (d), iii (a), iv (b) — It dates the GSTP to 2004 and the India-Korea CEPA to 2021. CEPA came into force on 1 January 2010, and the WTO review is left at 1988.
Concept
Four instruments of four different kinds, which is what the match is really testing.
GSTP is a preferential trading arrangement among developing countries, negotiated under UNCTAD and signed in 1988.
India-GCC and the India-Korea CEPA are bilateral: the first the 2004 framework agreement on economic cooperation that List I prints as a free trade agreement, the second a full partnership agreement covering goods, services and investment.
A Trade Policy Review is not an agreement at all. It is the WTO's periodic peer review of a member's trade policies, and India's seventh took place in 2021.
List I item ii is printed as the India-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement. The 2004 date belongs to the India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation, signed at New Delhi on 25 August 2004.
A framework for economic cooperation is not a free trade agreement, so answer the year the key wants, but do not carry the paper's label away as a fact.
The key mixes two dating conventions, so read the option list rather than the label.
The GSTP is keyed to its signing year, 1988, although it entered into force in 1989.
The India-Korea CEPA is keyed to its entry into force, 2010, although it was signed in 2009.
Key facts
- The GSTP agreement was signed at Belgrade on 13 April 1988 and entered into force on 19 April 1989.
- The India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation was signed on 25 August 2004.
- The India-Korea CEPA was signed in August 2009 and came into force on 1 January 2010.
- India's seventh WTO Trade Policy Review was held at Geneva on 6 and 8 January 2021.
Study next
Common traps
- Anchoring the GSTP to 1988 removes two of the three wrong options at once, so start there.
- A Trade Policy Review is a WTO peer review, not a trade agreement, so it does not belong to the same class as the other three items in List I.
SSC prints this one as a picture. List I and List II sit inside the question figure, not in the option text, so the four choices read as bare letter pairings until you open the image.
Match items reward locking down the single pairing you are certain of and eliminating on it, rather than checking all four.
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