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PRESS/TPRB/324 
8 December 2009 
 
(09-6254) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: GEORGIA 
Further structural reforms, key to sustained development 
Georgia’s recent economic policies have met with considerable success guided by reliance on the private sector for growth in a liberalized trade, investment and business environment, in what has 
been on of the world’s fastest reforming economies, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the 
trade policies and practices of Georgia.  
Prior to the armed conflict with Russia in August 2008 and the world financial crisis in September, 
per capita income rose three-fold, GDP rose by nearly 10% per annum and Foreign Direct Investment more than doubled to an estimated 17,2% in 2007. But those twin shocks hit many 
sectors and dampened economic growth. 
 Although there has been some diversification, Georgia’s export structure remains quite 
concentrated in traditional products. In agriculture, a sector critical for the economy, labour 
productivity is one tenth of that in the rest of the economy and the activity has registered a 
decline due to shortage of credit and the small size of land plots. 
 
The report says that continuing structural reforms will be key to strengthening Georgia’s resilience 
to shocks, sustaining growth, attracting investment into export activities and improving 
productivity; in short, in developing an enabling environment for export diversification in terms of 
both product composition and geographical direction.  
The report, along with policy statement by the Gove rnment of Georgia, will  be the basis for the 
first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Georgia by th e Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 8 and 
10 December 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/tp324_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  PRESS/TPRB/324 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • Report by the Government of Georgia 
• 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 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: 
Malaysia: 18 and 20 January 2010 
El Salvador: 10 and 12 February 2010 
Croatia: 24 and 26 March 2010 
 
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