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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 25 JANUARY 2010  
 
PRESS/TPRB/325 
25 January 2010 
 
(10-0320) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: MALAYSIA 
Further trade-related reforms wo uld help long-term economic 
growth 
Between 2005 and 2008, Malaysia's economy conti nued to grow steadily although the pace of 
growth slowed in 2008 and in particular in the first quarter of 2009 reflecting the global financial crisis and associated sharp fall in exports, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade 
policies and practices of Malaysia. 
 Among the structural measures taken by the Government was the relaxation of restrictions on 
foreign investment in services, a reflection of the authorities' efforts to promote the services sector 
with the goal of increasing services' share of GDP from around half to 60% by 2020, and reduce 
reliance on manufactured exports. 
 
The report says that a more liberal trade and inve stment regime, as has recently been adopted in 
services, would contribute greatly to Malaysia's long-term economic growth. It also says that an 
early recovery of the Malaysian economy depends not only on prudent macroeconomic policies but 
also on structural reforms, like promoting competition, and further liberalization in the services sector and moving up the value chain in manufacturing. 
 
The report, along with policy statement by the Gove rnment of Malaysia, will be the basis for the 
fifth Trade Policy Re view (TPR) of Malaysia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 25 and 
27 January 2010. 
 
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/tp325_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  PRESS/TPRB/325 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • Report by the Government of Malaysia 
• 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 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 
http://onlinebookshop.wto.org/shop/articles.asp?Id_Rayon=38
 
or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan  
Press, 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706-4346, United  
States. Please call 1-800-865-3457 or e-mail: customercare@bernan.com.” 
Next reviews: 
El Salvador: 10 and 12 February 2010 
Croatia: 24 and 26 March 2010 
Armenia: 6 and 8 April 2010 
 
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 
  
 
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