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PRESS/TPRB/253 
12 October 2005 
 
(05-4610) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: REPUBLIC OF GUINEA 
Improved trade regime but good governance and trade 
diversification remain major challenges 
Guinea has generally improved its trade regime since the last review took place in 1999, in 
particular by unifying the tariff in 2005 upon impl ementing the reform agreed with other members 
of the Economic Community of West African St ates (ECOWAS), according to a WTO Secretariat 
Report on the Trade Policies and Practices of the Republic of Guinea. 
 Guinea’s trade policy is now aimed at increasing the contribution that trade makes to economic 
growth by diversifying and boosting exports, espe cially those of the agricultural, fisheries and non-
mining sectors  
The report notes that good governance, diversific ation of exports from dependence on minerals 
and fiscal reform are among the main challenges fo r the Republic of Guinea to emerge from its 
economic crisis and successfully reduce poverty. 
 
Guinea, a Least Developed Country (LDC), has not attracted interest from foreign and domestic 
investors with the exception of the mining sector , in part due to a weak legal and regulatory 
framework for private transactions, and also to the poor quality of public services and 
infrastructure.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by th e Republic of Guinea, will be the basis for the 
second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Guinea by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 12 and 14 October 2005. 
 
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/tp253.htm  PRESS/TPRB/253 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • 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  
• 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: 
Bolivia : 1 and 3 November 2005 
Romania : 28 and 30 November 2005 
 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