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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/304

TRADE POLICY REVIEW:

Stable growth that continued reform can help to maintain

Korea’s prudent macroeconomic policies together with ongoing structural reforms, including liberalization of its trade and investment regimes, have contributed to stable economic growth averaging 4,8% annually since its previous review in 2004, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of the Republic of Korea.

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Korea’s economy has continued to become more outward oriented, with trade in goods and services rising from 83% of GDP in 2004 to approximately 90% in 2007. Nevertheless, no unilateral MFN tariff liberalization was undertaken during this period, as opposed to the intensive pursuit of bilateral free-trade agreements, and the persistence of state ownership in telecommunications and transport services has maintained insufficient competition and low labour productivity in these areas.

The Government can help to maintain Korea’s growth by continuing with structural reforms, especially those aimed at improving the investment climate, addressing labour market rigidities and other related reforms like privatization and regulatory reforms, to increase the flexibility of the Korean economy and achieve more competitiveness and increased productivity.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of the Republic of Korea, will be the basis for the fifth TPR of Korea by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 8 and 10 October 2008.

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.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations
  > Economic environment
  > Trade and investment regimes
  > Trade policies and practices by measure
  > Trade policies by sector
  > Appendix tables
    
• Government report
    

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

Norway: 22 and 24 October 2008
Jordan: 10 and 12 November 2008
Dominican Republic: 24 and 26 November 2008

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