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PRESS/TPRB/222
6 November 2003
(03-5900)
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: HAITI
Socio-political stability would help Haiti to benefit from its
liberalization efforts
Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the worl d, has implemented reforms that have greatly
liberalized its economy and made it one of the most open in Latin America and the Caribbean;
nevertheless, the implementation of the structural component of the reforms has not followed and
this has had a negative impact on  the economy’s performance, according to a report on the trade
policies and practices of Haiti released November 6 by the WTO Secretariat.
The report says that the priority would currently appear to be socio-political stability that would
allow Haiti to proceed with its reforms and to fu lly exploit non-reciprocal preferential treatment
provided by developed countries. Adapting do mestic legislation to the reforms already
implemented, some adjustments in taxation and other measures, including improving Haiti’smultilateral commitments on both goods and services, would improve the transparency and
credibility of its trade regime.
The report adds that it is important that the international community support the liberalization
efforts made unilaterally by Haiti under difficult socio-political circumstances and give it all the
assistance and support needed to increase its participation in the multilateral trading system.
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Haiti , will be the basis for
the first Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Haiti by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 4 and 6November 2003.
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/tp222e.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 tablesPRESS/TPRB/222
Page 2 of 2
• 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 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). Thesedocuments 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 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:
Thailand : 12, 14 November 2003
Chile : 2, 4 December 2003
Turkey : 17, 19 December 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