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PRESS/TPRB/264 
17 May 2006 
 
(06-2389) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: URUGUAY 
Further liberalization could help sustain a recent record of strong 
growth 
After four years of economic contraction since the last review in 1998, Uruguay is experiencing 
strong growth, expected to be over 6% fo r 2005, thanks to a macroeconomic adjustment 
programme, the strengthening of the financial sector and a policy to keep markets open, according 
to a WTO Secretariat report on the Trade Policies and Practices of Uruguay by the Trade Policy 
Review Body (TPR).  
The report notes that during the period of economic contraction, Uruguay did not make use of 
trade restrictive measures to address the crisis, it made scant use of contingency measures, applied limited non-tariff barriers and made improvements in areas such as import procedures, 
customs valuation and intellectual property protection, while additional reforms are under 
consideration.  
The report also says that to promote greater econ omic efficiency and diversification it would be 
particularly important for Uruguay to further liberalize its economy on an MFN basis and anchor these efforts through multilateral commitments. 
 
The report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Uruguay, will be the basis for the 
third Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Uruguay by th e Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 17 and 
19 May 2006. 
 The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp264.htm  
 • 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  PRESS/TPRB/264 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 • Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
Note 
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 stat ement 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 the 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 at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews   
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly 
Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Iceland : 7 and 9 June 2006 
Chinese Taipei : 20 and 22 June 2006 
Togo: 3 and 5 July 2006 
 
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews 
  
END