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PRESS/TPRB/244 
21 February 2005 
 
(05-0703) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: QATAR 
Further reforms would help sustai n already impressive economic 
growth 
Qatar’s development strategy, together with high international crude prices since mid-1999, has 
resulted in an impressive economic performance in the past few years, with an average growth rate of around 9% over the period 1996-2003, according to a report on the trade policies and 
practices of Qatar published by the WTO Secretariat. 
 Despite Qatar’s diversification efforts, the economy is still dominated by oil and gas (56.1% of 
GDP, around 70% of public revenue, and almost 90% of total merchandise export earnings). Qatar 
has been implementing measures to improve it s business and investment climate, with the 
objective of further attracting foreign direct in vestment. Nevertheless, foreign companies remain 
excluded from investing in certain key activities, such as banking, insurance and commercial 
services.  
The report notes that Qatar’s market remains quite open despite the slight increase in protection 
following the implementation of the common extern al tariff of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 
of which Qatar is a member. It also stresses that the country needs to bring some elements of its 
trade regime more up to date and into greater conformity with WTO provisions. Continued 
reforms, including on tariffs and privatization, and further improvement of Qatar’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 the Government of Qatar, will be the basis for 
the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Qatar by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 21 
and 23 of February 2005.  
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/tp244.htm  PRESS/TPRB/244 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • Secretariat report 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  > Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  > Appendix tables  
• Government report  
• 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: 
Mongolia : 15 and 17 of March 2005 
Paraguay : 27 and 29 of April 2005 
Nigeria : 11 and 13 of May 2005 
 
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