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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/218
24 September 2003

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: SENEGAL
Reform and liberalization efforts improve economic performance

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

Senegal’s economic performance should continue to benefit from the substantial efforts made since the launching of a macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform programme in 1994, enhanced by a strategy to expand investment opportunities, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of Senegal released on 24 September by the WTO Secretariat.

Senegal’s trade policy mainly consists of implementing the common trade policy agreed within the WAEMU (West African Economic and Monetary Union) which until now has seemingly produced a modest level of subregional economic integration. The report notes that Senegal’s participation in the multilateral trading system is below expectations, thus exposing the country and its WAEMU partners to the of risk finding themselves on the margins of the current trade negotiations.

The report also points out that Senegal, a Least-developed Country since 2001, has a vulnerable rural economy, the services sector, in particular tourism, is facing a number of problems that hamper its development, and the investment and economic climate is still undermined by a number of problems relating to administrative procedures, labour regulations and lack of infrastructure.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (14 pages, 86KB)
  > Economic environment (10 pages, 114KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (22 pages, 123KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (32 pages, 265KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (20 pages, 120KB)
  > Appendix tables (14 pages, 210KB)
    
• Government report (42 pages, 238KB)
    
• 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