PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/214
14 May 2003

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: NEW ZEALAND
Success in weathering external shocks helped by radical reforms

The WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of New Zealand, will serve as a basis for the third Trade Policy Review (TPR) of New Zealand by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 12 and 14 May 2003.

On-going reforms have markedly improved New Zealand's macroeconomic performance and made it one of the most open economies in the world. But despite relatively strong growth, per capita income growth has not met the authorities' expectations. Reliance on agricultural exports may be among the reasons, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of New Zealand, released May 14 by the WTO Secretariat.

The report notes that in an effort to raise per capita income to the top half of the OECD's ranking, the Government has introduced a new proactive policy to assist exporters, encourage innovation and attract foreign investment and skilled labour. The report also notes, however, a halt to privatizations and a freeze in the unilateral tariff-reduction programme.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 72KB)
  > Economic environment (14 pages, 434KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (11 pages, 92KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (41 pages, 399KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (38 pages, 266KB)
  > Appendix tables (4 pages, 55KB)
    
• Government report (13 pages, 117KB)
    
• 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

Morocco: 16, 18 June 2003
Indonesia: 27, 30 June 2003
Senegal/Niger: 28, 30 July 2003