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PRESS/TPRB/286 
18 July 2007 
 
(07-3024) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN 
Impressive growth which contin ued reform would help sustain 
Bahrain’s development strategy, together with high international oil prices, has resulted in an 
impressive economic performance since its first Trade Policy Review (TPR) in 2000, with an annual 
average GDP growth rate of 6.2% over 2000-06, ac cording to a report on the trade policies and 
practices of Bahrain published by the WTO Secretariat.  
Bahrain has established one of the most diversified economies in the region, with services 
accounting for 74.3% of GDP, manufacturing 13.3%, and oil and gas 11.8%. Despite this, oil and gas account for around 70% of both government income and merchandise exports. Bahrain has 
taken steps to improve its business and investment climate with the objective of further attracting 
foreign direct investment. Nonetheless, foreign companies remain excluded or are limited from 
investing in certain activities, such as road transport of goods and passengers. 
 
The report notes that there was a decrease in tariff protection following the implementation, in 2003, of the common external tariff of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of which Bahrain is a 
member. It also stresses that Bahrain needs to br ing some elements of its trade regime more up 
to date and into greater conformity with WTO provisions. Continued reforms, including the adoption of a competition policy, and further improvement of Bahrain’s multilateral commitments, 
both on goods and services, would contribute to better resource allocation, and increase the 
predictability of its trade regime.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by th e Government of Bahrain, will be the basis for 
the second TPR of Bahrain by the Trade Policy Re view Body of the WTO on 18 and 20 July 2007. 
 
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/tp286_e.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  PRESS/TPRB/286 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • Report by the Government of Bahrain 
• 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: 
Panama: 17 and 19 September 2007 
Gabon/Cameroon: 2 and 4 October 2007 
Peru:  17 and 19 October 2007 
 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