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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 22 OCTOBER 2008  
 
PRESS/TPRB/305 
22 October 2008 
 
(08-5028) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: NORWAY 
Strong economic performance but agricultural reform desirable 
Norway’s domestic economy has performed strongly since its previous Trade Policy Review in 2004 
thanks to rising export prices, a generally liberal import regime and sound macroeconomic policies. 
Norway has continued to undertake reforms, often driven by its participation in the European 
Economic Area (EEA) , which has helped add flexibility to the Norwegian economy and enhance market competition, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of 
Norway. 
 While market access for non-agricultural products is all but fully open, domestically produced 
agricultural goods remain heavily assisted, contributi ng to high food prices. Taking steps to reduce 
such assistance would align agricultural policy with the market based-solutions pursued in other sectors, which have been key to Norway’s prosperity.  
 
The report also suggest that Norway should clos e the gap between the treatment it grants to its 
EEA and other WTO partners by applying reforms on an MFN basis and securing them in the WTO 
to prevent trade and investment distortions. The report notes that barriers to foreign investment 
persist in some sectors.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Norway , will be the basis for 
the fifth TPR of Norway by the Trade Policy Re view Body of the WTO on 22 and 24 October 2008. 
 
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/tp305_e.htm  
 
• Secretariat reports 
> Contents and summary observations  > Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  > Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  
• Report by Government of Norway 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). PRESS/TPRB/305 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO Agreement, 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: 
Jordan: 10 and 12 November 2008 
Dominican Republic: 24 and 26 November 2008 
Liechtenstein and Switzerland: 15 and 17 December 2008 
 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