PRESS RELEASE

PRESS/TPRB/204

9 October 2002

Dominican Republic: October 2002

The WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of the Dominican Republic, will serve as a basis for the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the Dominican Republic by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 7 and 9 October 2002.

Fast economic growth driven by efforts to modernize economy back to top

A report on the trade policies and practices of the Dominican Republic, published October 9 by the WTO Secretariat, says that since its previous Trade Policy Review in 1996, the Dominican Republic has sustained a fast pace of economic growth driven in good part by continued efforts to restructure its economy.

The report also says that Dominican Republic’s trade and investment regimes are largely liberal and its participation in the global economy extensive. It notes, however, that the distortions associated with a narrow export-led growth strategy, and inefficiencies in sectors like electricity, may become obstacles for further improvements in living standards.

The documents back to top

The documents below are available in MS Word format.

Government report (20 pages, 778KB)

Secretariat report

> Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 116KB)

> Economic environment (10 pages, 143KB)

> Trade policy regime: framework and objectives

> Trade policies and practices by measure (33 pages, 423KB)

> Trade policies by sector (30 pages, 421KB)

> Appendix tables (6 pages, 91KB)

Chairperson's concluding remarks (2 pages, 41KB)

Minutes of the meeting are circulated to WTO members for comment before they are finalized. They are normally available online four weeks after the meeting.

Note to Editors 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 which 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.