TRADE POLICY REVIEW:
Trade reforms have born fruit but need to be pursued
To cope with several challenges to its economic regime, Mauritius has undertaken recently bold reforms aimed at liberalizing its trade regime and boosting competitiveness; the reforms have begun to bear fruit, providing a real GDP growth of 5,1% on average per year since 2003, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Mauritius.
See also:
The strong growth in the Services sector, the most important in terms
of its contribution to GDP (almost 70% in 2006), and the recovery of the
textile industry have provided the backbone to this good performance.
The report adds that Mauritius trade regime would benefit from increased
predictability if the gap between applied and bound rates were reduced
and the existing services commitments were improved to make them better
reflect the current more liberal regime applied in the sector. The
report also notes that Mauritius' participation in various regional
trade agreements is difficult to manage and to reconcile with its plans
to transform the country into a duty-free island.
The WTO Secretariat report, along with a policy statement by the
Government of Mauritius, will be the basis for the third TPR of
Mauritius by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 23 and 25 April
2008.
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.
- 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
China: 21 and 23 May 2008
United States: 9 and 11 June 2008
Oman: 25 and 27 June 2008
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