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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/227
6 February 2004

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: THE GAMBIA

Reforms need to aim at diversification of production and exports

The trade policy reforms of The Gambia, a hub for re-exports to neighbouring countries, need to address anti-export biases resulting from its tariff structure with a view to contributing to the diversification of production and exports. This could provide durable prospects for growth and promote investment, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of The Gambia released by the WTO Secretariat.

The report notes that The Gambia’s ability to benefit from its membership to the WTO is hampered by capacity constraints, which affect both its participation in negotiations and implementation of trade reforms entailed by its multilateral commitments. The Gambia would therefore benefit from specific support designed to help it meet its multilateral commitments, and to disseminate information regarding preferential market access opportunities and satisfy procedural requirements attached to them.

The report also says that The Gambia could improve the predictability of its trade regime by increasing the coverage of bound tariffs, and by reducing the gap between bound and applied rates. Further tariff reforms would also reduce the need for duty exemptions and concessions.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of The Gambia, will be the basis for the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of The Gambia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 4 and 6 February 2004.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (13 pages, 68KB)
  > Economic environment (11 pages, 364KB)
  > Trade and investment regimes (19 pages, 127KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (23 pages, 1527KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (39 pages, 324KB)
  > Appendix tables (14 pages, 178KB)
    
• Government report (15 pages, 102KB)
    
• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    
• Minutes of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.  

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Sri Lanka: 3 and 5 of March 2004
Rwanda: 10 and 12 May 2004
Singapore: 14 and 16 June 2004