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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/217
24 September 2003

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: NIGER
Stabilization programme and market-oriented reforms should start bearing fruit

The WTO report, along with the policy statement by the Government of Niger, will serve as a basis for the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Niger by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 22 and 24 September 2003.

Niger’s macroeconomic stabilization programme and structural reforms , in particular trade policy changes carried out within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), should start producing benefits in the medium term, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of Niger released on 24 September by the WTO Secretariat.

The report notes that Niger, a vulnerable Least-Developed Country, whose economic growth depends above all on developments in agriculture, has established, as major objectives of its economic policy, the stabilization of government finance and the opening up of the economy to competition.

The report, which prioritises technical assistance and capacity building needs, calls for greater participation of Niger and its WAEMU partners in the multilateral trading system to avoid finding themselves on the margins of the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda. It also says that Niger could consider diversifying its mineral exports and finding outlets for its exports of agricultural or livestock products, handicrafts or services.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 66KB)
  > Economic environment (9 pages, 104KB
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (20 pages, 113KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (24 pages, 235KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (13 pages, 80KB)
  > Appendix tables (10 pages, 162KB)
    
• Government report (24 pages, 103KB)
    
• 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

Honduras: 29 September, 1 October 2003
Bulgaria: 15, 17 October 2003
Guyana: 29, 31 October 2003