PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/209

17 January 2003

MALDIVES, February 2003

Continued structural reforms could improve economy's efficiency

The WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of Maldives, will serve as a basis for the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Maldives by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 15 and 17 January 2003.

A report on the trade policies and practices of Maldives, released January 17 by the WTO Secretariat, says that continued structural reforms, including trade and investment liberalization, and the pursuit of privatization could strengthen competition, thereby improving the economy’s efficiency.

Maldives, a net food-importing least developed country (LDC) , faces major challenges such as lack of diversification of its economy, which makes it vulnerable to external factors affecting tourism and traditional fishing, escalating fiscal deficits and possible graduation from LDC status.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

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Secretariat report

> Contents and summary observations (10 pages, 97KB)

> Economic environment (13 pages, 364KB)

> Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (15 pages, 145KB)

> Trade policies and practices by measure (15 pages, 233KB)

> Trade policies by sector (15 pages, 151KB)

> Appendix tables (5 pages, 123KB)

Government report (22 pages, 171KB)

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

El Salvador: 3, 5 February 2003

Canada: 12, 14 March 2003

Burundi: 2, 4 April 2003