PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/255
2 and 3 November 2005

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: BOLIVIA

The trade regime has improved but greater predictability is needed

Since its last review in 1999, Bolivia has modernized and simplified its trade policy but economic growth has been sluggish and investment trends have proved disappointing, according to a WTO Secretariat Report on the Trade Policies and Practices of Bolivia.

See also:
> More on Bolivia

The report notes that it is of critical importance for Bolivia to increase investment, including foreign investment, in order to enhance productivity and promote growth. Bolivia could make significant headway in that direction if it improved the predictability of its trade and investment regime by undertaking broader multilateral commitments to consolidate the considerable liberalization steps it has already taken.

This could include new commitments under the GATS. Although Bolivia has bound all its tariffs, predictability would be further enhanced by narrowing the gap between applied and bound tariffs.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

  

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

Romania: 28 and 30 November 2005
Malaysia: 16 and 18 January 2006
Djibouti: 27 February 1 March 2006