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1800 GENEVA TIME ( 1700 GMT ) 29 NOVEMBER 2002
PRESS/TPRB/207
29 November 2002
(02-6570)
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: VENEZUELA
More private investment needed to diversify the economy
A report on the trade policies and practices of Venezuela, published November 29 by the WTO
Secretariat, says that steps have been taken to liberalize the economy but that more private
investment is required to achieve greater diversification.
To do so, the report also says, Venezuela needs to address the perception of insufficient
predictability in its institutional and legal framework, which could be done by following stricterpractices in its trade policies and binding recent liberalization measures.
A WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of Venezuela, will serve as a
basis for the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Venezuela by the Trade Policy Review Body of
the WTO on 27 and 29 November 2002.
The following documents are available in MS Word format on the WTO website. They can be
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp207_e.htm
• Secretariat report
> Contents and summary observations
> Economic environment> Trade policy regime: framework and objectives
> Trade policies and practices by measure
> Trade policies by sector> Appendix tables
• Government report
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks
• Minutes of the meeting (available approximately 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 gl obal trading system are also monitored. For each
review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member underreview, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documentsPRESS/TPRB/207
Page 2 of 2
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 publishe d 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 athttps://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:
Hong Kong, China : 16, 18 Dec 2002
Maldives : 15, 17 January 2003
El Salvador : 3, 5 February 2003
Canada : 12, 14 March 2003
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tpr_e.htm#reviews
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews
END