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PRESS/TPRB/315 
6 May 2009 
(09-2171) 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: SOLOMON ISLANDS 
Balanced growth requires  more policy coherence 
Since the end of civil strife in 2003, Solomon Islands has made efforts to reform its trade and 
economic policies by reducing the level and dispersion of tariffs, easing customs procedures, 
rationalizing fiscal incentives, and adopting new legislation on investment, state-owned enterprises 
and civil aviation, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Solomon Islands. 
 
The report notes that recent economic growth has been robust, but is on an unsustainable path.  Hence, it is imperative to continue supporting the development of long-term sources of balanced 
economic growth by strengthening institutional capacity for trade and economic policy formulation 
and implementation.    
Economic growth would also be supported by the greater transparency, predictability and 
coherence that would result from Solomon Islands aligning its trade and investment regime more 
closely with the multilateral trading system in areas such as taxation, customs valuation, sanitary 
and other regulations, and the protection of intellectual property. 
 The report, along with a policy statement by the Go vernment of Solomon Islands, will be the basis 
for the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the Solomon Islands by the Trade Policy Review Body 
of the WTO on 6 and 8 May 2009.  
The following documents are available in MS Word  format on the WTO web-site.  They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp315_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 Solomon Islands 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). PRESS/TPRB/315 
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: 
New Zealand: 10 and 12 June 2009 
Morocco: 24 and 26 June 2009 
Guyana: 8 and 10 July 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