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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1200  GMT) 24 APRIL 2006  
 
PRESS/TPRB/263 
24 April 2006 
 
(06-1886) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) 
A generally liberal economy wh ose perfomance could further 
improve with structural reform 
The UAE’s generally liberal and increasingly diversified economy, the importance of trade for its 
economic performance, its relatively low border barriers to trade, and its growing economic power make it an increasingly important supporter of the multilateral trading system, according to a 
report on the trade policies and practice s of the UAE by the WTO Secretariat. 
 The economy has grown by 6% per year on aver age over the past decade and 9% in 2003-2005, 
although, despite some diversification, the UAE still depends on crude oil and gas exports for a 
significant share of its national income. But internal barriers to trade, resulting largely from the absence of a competition policy, institutional weaknesses, and restrictions on foreign participation 
in the economy, are impediments to doing business in the UAE and are hindering the 
diversification into services, a sector that is rapidly becoming a strategic priority.  
The report says that structural reforms, including the abolition of the restrictive Trade Agency Law, 
the adoption of competition legislation, and further liberalization of and multilateral commitments in the services sector, would improve resource allocation and the UAE’s economic performance. 
 
The report, along with a policy statement by the Go vernment of the United Arab Emirates, will be 
the basis for the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the UAE by the Trade Policy Review Body of the 
WTO on 24 and 26 April 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/tp263.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/263 
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: 
Uruguay : 17 and 19 May 2006 
Iceland : 7 and 9 June 2006 
Chinese Taipei : 20 and 22 June 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