PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/210
5 February 2003

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: EL SALVADOR
Economy and trade reforms must continue to accelerate growth

The WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of El Salvador, will serve as a basis for the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of El Salvador by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 3 and 5 February 2003.

A report on the trade policies and practices of El Salvador, released February 5 by the WTO Secretariat, says that the country’s efforts to liberalize and modernize its economy have resulted in a closer integration to the world economy, and steady but modest economic growth.

The report also notes, however, that the trade regime still suffers from an anti-export bias, and limited market and product diversification. Reliance on remittances is also high. Addressing these issues and, in due time, the distortions than can arise from export processing zones, would aid El Salvador achieve the higher growth rates it seeks.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (10 pages, 115KB)
  > Economic environment (15 pages, 584KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (15 pages, 102KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (37 pages, 312KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (35 pages, 394KB)
  > Appendix tables (10 pages, 204KB)
    

• Government report (10 pages, 59KB)
    

• 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

Canada: 12, 14 March 2003
Burundi: 2, 4 April 2003
Southern African Costums Union (SACU): 23, 25 April 2003