home > trade topics > trade policy reviews > list of reviews >

PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/288

TRADE POLICY REVIEW:

Good progress with continued reform needed to achieve diversification

Over the last five years, Cameroon and Gabon have made a good economic progress, as a result of their economic reforms, as well as the increase in oil prices, according to WTO Secretariat reports on the trade policies and practices of Gabon and Cameroon.

See also:
  

The report on Cameroon notes however its very limited scope of tariff bindings, and stresses the importance of improving Cameroon’s multilateral commitments on goods and services. This would make Cameroon’s trade regime more credible, transparent, and predictable.

The report on Gabon raises concerns regarding the applied MFN tariffs that exceed their bound levels for some 39% of the total lines. The report also highlights the fact that the absence of a competition regime and the transfer of monopolies from state-owned enterprises to private sector have contributed to maintaining prices high; this affects the competitiveness of the country’s goods and services.

The reports also stresses the importance for both Cameroon and Gabon to continue the reforms in order to improve their business environment and diversify their economies.

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.

Cameroon:

• 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
    

Gabon:

• 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

Peru: 17 and 19 October 2007
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): 5 and 7 November 2007
Thailand: 26 and 28 November 2007

> Problems viewing this page?
Please contact webmaster@wto.org giving details of the operating system and web browser you are using.