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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1200  GMT) 8 JULY 2009  
 
PRESS/TPRB/318 
8 July 2009 
 
(09-3324) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: GUYANA 
Further regulatory reforms n eeded to promote development 
Guyana’s improved economic performance since it s last Review in 2003, came hand-in-hand with 
high prices for its main export products and significant reform efforts in various areas including the 
tax and investment regimes, competition policy and government procurement, according to WTO 
Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Guyana.  
Nevertheless, Guyana’s per capita income remains low by regional standards and additional 
reforms are needed to promote investment and thus development. Exports are still concentrated on a few primary products, notably gold, sugar, bauxite and rice. And there is large scope for 
improvement in areas such as customs procedures and SPS, says the report. 
 The report also notes that Guyana would participate more fully in the multilateral trading system if 
in addition to those reforms it also expanded its economic infrastructure, particularly in the 
transport and energy sectors, and further st rengthened governance and the regulatory 
environment. 
 
The report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Guyana, will be the basis for the 
second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Guyana by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 8 and 
10 of July 2009. 
 
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/tp318_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 the Government of Guyana 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). PRESS/TPRB/318 
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 
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: 
Zambia: 27 and 29 July 2009 
Chile: 7 and 9 October 2009   
Maldives: 26 and 28 October 2009  
 
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