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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1200  GMT) 23 APRIL 2008  
 
PRESS/TPRB/298 
23 April 2008 
 
(08-1879) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: MAURITIUS 
Trade reforms have born frui t but need to be pursued 
To cope with several challenges to its economic  regime, Mauritius has undertaken recently bold 
reforms aimed at liberalizing its trade regime an d boosting competitiveness;  the reforms have 
begun to bear fruit, providing a real GDP growth of 5,1% on average per year since 2003, 
according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Mauritius.  
The strong growth in the Services sector, the most  important in terms of its contribution to GDP 
(almost 70% in 2006), and the recovery of the textile  industry have provided the backbone to this 
good performance. 
 
The report adds that Mauritius trade regime would benefit from increased predictability if the gap between applied and bound rates were reduced and the existing services commitments were 
improved to make them better reflect the current more liberal regime applied in the sector.  The 
report also notes that Mauritius' participation in various regional trade agreements is difficult to manage and to reconcile with its plans to transform the country into a duty-free island. 
 
The WTO Secretariat report, along with a policy stat ement by the Government of Mauritius, will be 
the basis for the third TPR of Mauritius by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 23 and 25 
April 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/tp298_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 Mauritius 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). PRESS/TPRB/298 
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: 
China: 21 and 23 May 2008 
United States: 9 and 11 June 2008 
Oman: 25 and 27 June 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