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PRESS/TPRB/288 
1 October 2007 
 
(07-4086) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: CAMEROON AND GABON 
Good progress with continued reform needed to achieve 
diversification 
Over the last five years, Cameroon and Gabon ha ve made a good economic progress, as a result 
of their economic reforms, as well as the increa se in oil prices, according to WTO Secretariat 
reports on the trade policies and practices of Gabon and Cameroon. 
 
The report on Cameroon notes however its very limited scope of tariff bindings, and stresses the importance of improving Cameroon’s multilateral commitments on goods and services. This would 
make Cameroon’s trade regime more credible, transparent, and predictable. 
 The report on Gabon raises concerns regarding the applied MFN tariffs that exceed their bound 
levels for some 39% of the total lines. The report  also highlights the fact that the absence of a 
competition regime and the transfer of monopolies from state-owned enterprises to private sector 
have contributed to maintaining prices high; this affects the competitiveness of the country’s 
goods and services. 
 The reports also stresses the importance for both Cameroon and Gabon to continue the reforms in 
order to improve their business environment and diversify their economies. 
 The WTO reports, along with a policy statements  by the Governments of Gabon and Cameroon, 
will be the basis for the TPR of Gabon and Camer oon by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO 
on 1 and 3 October 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/tp288_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/288 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 • Report by the Governments of Gabon and Cameroon 
• 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: 
Peru:  17 and 19 October 2007 
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): 5 and 7 November 2007 
Thailand: 26 and 28 November 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