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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 28 NOVEMBER 2005  
 
PRESS/TPRB/256 
28 November 2005 
 
(05-5600) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: ROMANIA 
Continued liberalization shou ld improve efficiency and 
competitiveness 
Since its last review in 1999, Romania has continued to liberalize its trade regime. This, in turn, 
has contributed to a positive overall economic perfomance during the last few years. Romania has also embarked on a reinvigorated privatization programme to increase efficiency and attract more 
foreign investment, still largely untapped and low by regional standards, according to a WTO 
Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Romania.  
Romania’s trade regime would gain from tariff re forms. Indeed, the reduction of the gap between 
applied and bound MFN tariffs, mainly on agricultur al products, would improve the predictability of 
the regime. Moreover, the reduction of applied MFN tariffs should contribute to diversify the 
geographical pattern of Romania’s trade away from its preferential partners, according to the 
report.   
The report also notes that further liberalization  in services should improve efficiency in the 
economy, including the competitiveness of Romania’ s exports, especially by reducing costs related 
to financial services, telecoms, and transport. 
 
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by th e Government of Romania,  will be the basis for 
the third Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Romania by  the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 
28 and 30 November 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/tp256.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/256 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • 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: 
Malaysia: 16 and 18 January 2006 
Djibouti : 27 February and 1 March 2006 
 
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