WT/TPR/M/365
14 March 2018
(18-1535) Page: 1/33
Trade Policy Review Body
23 and 25 January 2018
TRADE POLICY REVIEW
THE GAMBIA
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
Chairperson: H.E. Mr Juan Carlos González (Colombia)
CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON ...... 2 2 OPENING STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GAMBIA ...... 4 3 STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT ...... 7 4 STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS ...... 12 5 REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GAMBIA AND ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ...... 27 6 CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON ...... 32
Note: Advance written questions and additional questions by WTO Members, and the replies provided by The Gambia are reproduced in document WT/TPR/M/365/Add.1 and will be available online at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp_rep_e.htm.
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1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON
1.1. The third Trade Policy Review of The Gambia was held on 23 and 25 January 2018. The Chairperson, H.E. Mr. Juan Carlos González (Colombia) welcomed the delegation of The Gambia headed by H.E. Dr. Isatou Touray, Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment; the rest of the delegation; and the discussant, H.E. Mr. Daniel Blockert (Sweden).
1.2. The Chairperson recalled the purpose of the Trade Policy Reviews and the main elements of the procedures for the meeting. The report by The Gambia was contained in document WT/TPR/G/365 and that of the WTO Secretariat in WT/TPR/S/365.
1.3. Questions by the following delegations had been submitted in writing before the deadline: Brazil; United States; European Union; Canada; and Japan. The following delegations submitted written questions after the deadline: China; and Thailand.
1.4. At the last TPR in 2010, Members had observed that The Gambia had weathered the global financial crisis relatively well. However, economic performance had been hampered by a small and undiversified production and export base consisting mainly of groundnuts and fish, and export performance had also been adversely affected by SPS and quality assurance issues.
1.5. The Gambian economy continued to face challenges. According to the Secretariat's report, some of the main problems were high fiscal deficits, the growing public debt, and financially distressed state-owned enterprises. High government borrowing combined with tight monetary policy had resulted in high interest rates crowding out private sector development. The Gambia had also been hit by external shocks, notably the 2014 Ebola outbreak in neighbouring countries which had affected its tourism sector. Overall, real GDP growth had averaged 2.9% in the period 2010-16. However, according to the IMF, there had been some encouraging developments last year (2017) with a rebound in tourism and trade and renewed interest by foreign investors. The Secretariat's report also underlined the importance that international aid and remittances played in sustaining the Gambian economy.
1.6. The Secretariat's report indicated that The Gambia had by and large an open trade and investment regime, noting that the country needed to import most of its food and other needs. In their advance written questions Members expressed an interest in learning more about measures to attract FDI, and remaining restrictions on FDI.
1.7. The WTO and the Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS) trade regime provided the basic parameters for The Gambia's trade policies. For example, customs procedures with respect to rules of origin and transit were governed by ECOWAS rules.
1.8. The Secretariat's report highlighted as the main trade policy development the adoption of the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) from 1 January 2017. It noted that for The Gambia, the change from the national customs tariff (2010) to the ECOWAS CET had been a major tariff reform, entailing adjustments of thousands of tariff lines. The average CET (MFN) rate was 12.3%, down from the previous average of 14.1%. None of the ECOWAS CET rates exceeded The Gambia's tariff bindings. The Gambia applied the CET to all of its trading partners, including other ECOWAS members, at present, except for goods covered by the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), which entered duty free.
1.9. Other trade policy reforms since the last TPR included a new food safety regime, a modernized TBT regime, updated legislation on intellectual property rights and government procurement, and the introduction of a VAT regime. The Secretariat's report noted that the excise tax regime appeared to have some features of differential application between imported and domestically-produced goods, something that had already been observed during the last TPR in 2010. This might be a matter of systemic interest that WTO Members might wish to revert to.
1.10. The Gambia had deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in July 2017. Several delegations had submitted questions regarding further clarification as to when The Gambia intended to submit its TFA related notifications.
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1.11. Other areas where Members had questions for this TPR included customs procedures, import restrictions, plans for privatization of state-owned enterprises, and The Gambia's transport and energy policies.
1.12. This meeting would thus be a good opportunity for Members to discuss in greater detail issues of interest to them and of systemic importance to the multilateral trading system. The Chairperson looked forward to a fruitful exchange.
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2 OPENING STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GAMBIA (H.E. DR. ISATOU TOURAY)
2.1. My delegation is happy to be here for the third Trade Policy Review of The Gambia. I want to take this opportunity to thank you Mr Chairman and the WTO Secretariat for the efforts that went into the organisation of this meeting. We appreciate the Secretariat's diligence in preparing its comprehensive report which formed part of the basis of our discussions in this review meeting. The review gives us an opportunity to look at some of the reforms and trade policy developments that have been taken by The Gambia since the last Trade policy Review in 2010. I would also like to thank H.E. Ambassador Daniel Blockert of Sweden for kindly agreeing to assume the role of the Discussant and I look forward to hearing his observations and insights.
2.2. A lot has occurred in The Gambia since our last trade policy review and the most recent is the change of Government which led to the establishment of the new Government of President Adama Barrow in January 2017. The new Government has had challenges at the beginning as it inherited a fragile economy that is weak with high poverty levels and high youth unemployment. The Government inherited a debt burden of over D56.5 billion (120% of GDP) putting pressure to finance its development agenda. However, through commitment and strong partnership with development partners and private sector engagement, the Government has registered progress in stabilizing the economy. The Government is already implementing a series of economic and institutional reforms to foster greater efficiency in the public sector, ensure macroeconomic stability and strengthen the business climate.
2.3. The Government's fiscal consolidation and reforms are already yielding good results. The Government's net borrowing requirement has declined sharply from 12% of GDP in 2016 to a projected 1% of GDP in 2017 slowing down the rate of growth in the accumulation of domestic debt. In the wake of this, the cost of Government borrowings has also declined markedly with 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bill yields declining from 17.56%, 20.87% and 16.97% in September 2016 to 5.04%, 7.1% and 8.11% in September 2017, respectively.
2.4. The Gambian economy is therefore expected to grow by 3.0% in 2017 compared to an actual outturn of 2.2% in 2016. The agricultural sector, a major force of economic growth is expected to rebound to 2.6% in 2017 compared to 0.5% in the preceding year. Service sector growth is anticipated to experience a small set back with growth projected to fall to 4.1% in 2017 compared to 5.1% in 2016. The substantially low performance of the service sector is due to the negative impact of the December political impasse that affected the tourism sector, leading to low occupancy over the period January-March 2017. I am glad to inform this Body that the tourism sector is rebounding quickly with increasing number of visitors since November 2017 and we expect to have a good season this year.
2.5. Since the last review, the Gambia has adopted a number of measures to improve the trade and investment policy environment to support trade development. The food safety regime has been modernized through a new Food Safety and Quality Act of 2011 which led to the establishment of the Food Safety and Quality Authority in 2013. We have established structures to strengthen the development and enforcement of food safety legislation and to ensure compliance with international commitments. The Gambia Standards Bureau has also been operational since 2011 and has made progress in the development of standards and providing technical support to other trade-related institutions in the development of technical regulations to support trade. A new Consumer Protection Act was enacted in 2014 and is currently being implemented by the Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. We have also modernized our public procurement legislation through the establishment of the Public Procurement Authority Act in 2014 to make it in line with international best practice. Under the Act, the procurement Cadre, the Independence Complaints Review Board and the Major Tender Board are all fully operational since 2015. The intellectual property right legislations have also been strengthened by amending the Industrial Property Act in 2015 to align it with international standards. The new Act increased the protection period for patents from 15 years to 20 years and it also introduced provisions to ensure conformity with the Madrid Protocol relating to international registration of Marks.
2.6. To ensure that all trade related legislations are consistent with our WTO agreements and obligations, we have established a National Technical Regulation Committee in 2011, chaired by the Ministry of Justice to serve as a clearing house for all newly trade related legislations. The
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Committee reviews all draft trade related laws and regulations to ensure that they are consistent with WTO Agreements before their notification to the WTO and subsequent enactment.
2.7. On the invest policy environment, The Gambia has also revised the Companies Act in 2013, established the Single Window Registration Act in 2013, and revised the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Act in 2015. The Single Window Business Act helped in establishing a one-stop business registry in 2014 which now provides an electronic registration system for businesses. The new investment and export promotion act expanded the scope of investments and incentives to cover small and medium size enterprises. The Government has also formulated the Micro Small and Medium Size Enterprises Policy in 2014 and the Gambia National Entrepreneurship Policy was developed in 2016. As most of you may be aware, the Gambia Investment Policies were reviewed in November 2017 under the UNCTAD Investment Policy Reviews. As part of the review process, we have developed an Action Plan as a framework to addressing some of the challenges to improve the Gambia investment environment.
2.8. The Gambia will therefore continue to be committed to the multilateral trading system and will continue to work hard at improving compliance with the various obligations under the WTO. Following the ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement in March 2017, I am glad to inform you that we will be submitting the Gambia's Categories A, B and C notifications under the Trade Facilitation Agreement today as required by the Agreement. The Government has also finalized arrangements to open a Mission in Geneva to bring us much closer to the WTO and to ensure our effective participation on WTO related discussions here in Geneva.
2.9. The Gambia, as an LDC, continues to face trade capacity development challenges as highlighted in both the Government and Secretariat reports. We will continue to strengthen our collaboration with development partners and called on them to support the New Gambia in our efforts to develop trade and productive capacities for the attainment of the SDGs. As a Government, it is very clear to us that building trade capacities, improving competitiveness and promoting private sector development is the way forward for the Gambia to revive the economy to promote trade, inclusiveness and sustainable development. The Government is therefore undertaking reforms to improve the business environment and competitiveness to support private sector development. The Government has commenced the implementation of a number of measures in 2018 which led to the reduction of personal income tax, the corporate income tax (reduced from 30% to 27%), residential income tax (reduced from 10% to 8%) and the tariff on commercial rent also reduced from 15% to 10%.
2.10. The Government is currently working with the World Bank to implement the energy sector roadmap, which aims to improve efficiency in supply of electricity. We are also working closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a programme to put the country's macroeconomic fundamentals on a sound footing.
2.11. In this regard, the new Government has now complemented the drafting of its National Development Plan (2018 to 2021), where trade and trade-related issues have gained more prominence to support the government employment creation and economic development drive for poverty reduction.
2.12. The new National Development Plan is anchored on eight strategic priorities, and seven critical enablers, key amongst these priorities are: restoring good governance; respect for human right, the rule of law, and empowering citizens through decentralization and local governance; stabilizing our economy, stimulating growth and transforming the economy; modernizing our agriculture and fisheries for sustained economic growth, investing in our people through improved education and health services; building our infrastructure and restoring energy services; promoting an inclusive and culture-centred tourism for sustainable growth; reaping the demographic dividend through an empowered youth; and making the private sector the engine of growth, transformation, and job creation
2.13. However, in order to achieve these priorities, The Gambia will require critical enablers to build on the implementation of the National Development Plan. Amongst these are: a public sector that is efficient and responsive to the citizenry; empowering the Gambian woman to realize her full potential; enhancing the role of the Diaspora in Gambian Development; promoting environmental sustainability, climate resilient communities and appropriate land use; making The Gambia a
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- 6 - digital nation and creating a modern information society; and strengthening evidence-based policy, planning and decision-making.
2.14. In line with this, and cognizant of the potential positive impact that trade could have in a small open economy like ours, The Gambia Government continues to jealously guard its commitment to its liberal trade regime. The Government is also working with UNCTAD, through the EIF support, to formulate an Industrial Policy and Trade Strategy to support trade development, particularly in promoting the implementation of trade development issues as have been encapsulated in the New National Development Plan.
2.15. We have had a strong and beneficial relationship with the EIF Secretariat which has been very supportive during the period under review. In addition to Tier 1 project which focused on supporting trade institutional capacity developments, The Gambia has also successfully implemented two Tier 2 projects Under the EIF, including a Trade Facilitation Project. The Trade Facilitation project is supporting the improvement of Air-cargo facilities to enable exports of fish and horticulture produces and to attract more airlines serving The Gambia. All works under the project have now been completed and operations at the export wing of the facility has commenced. We are officially opening this ultra-modern cargo facility on 27 February 2018. We look forward to more closer engagement with the EIF Secretariat and development partners through the aid for trade initiative to support The Gambia trade development needs.
2.16. The Gambia also attaches great importance to regional economic cooperation and integration through our effective participation in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Government continues to be committed to the implementation of ECOWAS programmes to strengthen regional integration. We started the implementation of the ECOWAS Inter-State Road Transit Scheme 2013 and both ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme and the programme to facilitate the Free movement of people are effectively implemented in The Gambia. The Gambia has also officially started the implementation of the Common External Tariff (CET) in January 2017 as part of ECOWAS customs union initiatives.
2.17. In conclusion, please allow me to once again thank the WTO Secretariat, and all other partners for all their valuable assistance over the years and particularly to the New Government. The Government of the Gambia will continue to work closely with the WTO Secretariat and all Member States to make the multilateral trading system more responsive to our needs and help make international trade the engine of growth in all our countries.
2.18. Thank you for your attention.
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3 STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT
Introduction
3.1. As a discussant it is always useful if one can find strong links between your own country and the country that is being reviewed. However, in this case I can't really point to anything very impressive. Sweden was an early supporter of the Gambian independence in 1965. We were a big donor for many years. Today our trade relationship is very small. We import mainly cashews from The Gambia, and we export machinery, vehicles and furniture. And, of course, we have some tourists from Sweden every year going to The Gambia.
3.2. This is not insignificant of course, but not that inspiring either. Therefore, I will move on to something that is more impressive.
3.3. I do want to congratulate the representatives from The Gambia who are here today, because The Gambia has done something that is very difficult to do, namely transitioning from an autocratic regime to a democratic one without triggering a massive internal conflict, which is something that is not easy to do. It was a difficult process after the election in 2016 when Adama Barrow was elected. There were some months where the whole process balanced on a knife's edge before the situation was stabilized. We now have a new Government, a democratically elected Government and it should spare a new beginning for The Gambia. If this is not a reason for optimism I do not know what is.
3.4. One consequence of this for us today is that we have a situation where a country's Government will be held accountable for something a previous Government has done. This is not unusual of course. In democratic countries you have shifts in Government on a pretty regular basis and politicians are accustomed to work with what previous Governments have left them, good or bad. But today we have something of a special case. Taking over after 22 years of autocratic rule and inheriting an economy that is facing huge challenges, it is not your average change of Government.
3.5. I think that is something that is useful to keep in the back of our minds today when we talk about The Gambian economy. If this TPR can in any way be helpful and offer some guidance and inspiration for The Gambia in its future reforms, I think it has been worthwhile.
3.6. I have structured my comments today so that I will start with a very short introduction and overview, a lot of which you will recognize from the previous reports we have heard. After that, I will highlight a few areas of important reforms that The Gambia is currently engaged in, and finally, I will raise a few subjects that I found to be of particular interest, and also try to identify a few questions which I think could be pertinent and perhaps can be returned to on Thursday when we conclude this TPR.
Overview
3.7. If we start with the overview, I am not going to go into the basic facts in detail. You have those in the reports and your heard it from the Chair and from the Minister from The Gambia. But let me just reiterate that there is no lack of challenges for the new Government. They have inherited an economy with large fiscal and external imbalances, massive public debt stock costly domestic debt-service obligations, which are made worse by liabilities connected to loss-making State Owned Enterprises. The population grows faster than agricultural production and The Gambia has had a substantial emigration for a large number of years.
3.8. Another fact that I want to highlight in this context is that The Gambia has been a recipient of relatively low levels of development aid. If you compare with other countries on a similar level of development, it is obvious that The Gambia has not been the focus of donors. In fact, after the World Bank visited The Gambia in 2017, one of their representatives called The Gambia a "forgotten State" in terms of aid, and encouraged donors to get engaged.
3.9. There are several reasons for this situation. One of them is the previous political regime in The Gambia, but hopefully this can change. I know that the new Government in the Gambia has already started ambitious cooperation with the World Bank, the IMF, development banks and has
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- 8 - also reached out to individual donor countries. Aid will not be a panacea that can solve all the challenges but it can be a powerful help during this important period of transition.
3.10. There are also a few positive signs that I think are very important to highlight. The Gambia was hit by the financial crisis just like everyone else, but they still managed to get through better than many others. I read the report from the IMF recently where they project increase in growth rates, the IMF projects a 4% growth by 2019, which is a respectable figure.
3.11. The trade and investment regime is fairly open and it is encouraging to see that The Gambia seems intent on using the WTO as a mean to boost their trade and assist in some of the domestic reforms that are necessary.
Current reforms
3.12. When reading the reports from the WTO Secretariat, The Gambia and also a few other reports I found from the World Bank, IMF and the African Development Bank, one of the main conclusions is that the future economic prospects of The Gambia will depend on the country's capacity to reform the economy.
3.13. Long term growth will be dependent on internal structural reforms to improve performance in the public sector and the state owned enterprises. Closely connected to this is the need to strengthen the private sector, especially when it comes to reforms of business environment, taxes, access to funding, education and training.
3.14. We also find many references to reforms that are closely related to the trade regimes. The main issue here is clearly the relationship between The Gambia and ECOWAS.
3.15. From the reports that we have before us today it is clear that The Gambia is very much aware of the fact that reforms are necessary and a lot of reforms are already ongoing or in the pipeline. I would especially like to highlight a few of them that I find to be interesting. This is in no way an exhaustive list:
Tourism is still a main source of income for The Gambia but the sector is volatile. Strategies have been launched through the Culture and Hospitality Plan which will now need to be implemented to create a more stable sector. Plans connected to tourism also include PR strategies, targeting conference tourism and increased involvement from the private sector.
Infrastructure continues to be a challenge and even if heavy investments have been made much more is needed. One of the key objectives is to improve the competiveness of the Port of Banjul and make it into a transit hub in the region. This entails moving away from the current Public Service Model and creating room for the private sector to get involved.
There are several reforms connected to agriculture. The current policy on development of the agricultural sector, The Agricultural and Natural Resource Policy is under review.
There are several initiatives related to promote private investment in agriculture across the whole value chain. Projects are also underway to address agricultural infrastructure, such as the Land and Water Management Project.
The fisheries sector is a priority not least because of its potential for food security. Monitoring and better regulation is badly needed and The Gambia has a technical cooperation programme with the FAO.
There are also substantial reforms in areas related directly to trade. Since 2017, The Gambia has started implementing the Common External Tariff (CET) of ECOWAS. This is a huge undertaking and I will come back to this issue later.
As the current Chair of the Trade Facilitation Committee, I'm pleased to see that not only have The Gambia ratified the TFA, but there are also several projects related to implementation in progress. A single window is in place, a Trade Facilitation Committee has been created and there is an ongoing project with the EIF connected to the Port of Banjul.
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We hope to see this work continued but, of course, I also feel obliged to remind The Gambia that we still lack some notifications concerning TFA, and we hope they are in the pipeline.
I note with satisfaction that The Gambia eliminated fuel subsidies in 2014. This is good news since fuel subsidies are rarely efficient or motivated.
The Gambia was one of the signatories of the Ministerial Declaration on Women and Trade that was adopted in Buenos Aires. Therefore I was especially encouraged to see that The Gambia has devoted a separate headline in their report on gender mainstreaming. I hope you can be an inspiration for others to do the same. Women are important economic actors in all the major sectors in The Gambia and it is positive to see that the National Gender Policy and the Private Sector Development Strategy both include activities directed specifically to empowering women in trade. I also know that gender mainstreaming has been a key component in several projects that The Gambia has in partnership with the EIF and ITC, for example a Tier 2 that supported the cashew industry.
3.16. I have only highlighted some of the ongoing reforms and projects. In some cases The Gambia has encountered obstacles in implementing these reforms but that is to be expected and it does not seem to have affected the country's commitment to continue this work.
Questions and challenges
3.17. Next, I will move on to mentioning a few areas where I feel it might be interesting to have a further discussion here today and perhaps come back to on Thursday as well. I called my headline "Questions and challenges" and there are three blocks that I would like to mention. My objective under this headline is not to criticize or complain. My intention is rather to highlight a few areas where I believe that there are challenges. They are of a systemic nature and could interest others as well. I believe that many other developing countries, LDCs in particular, are facing similar challenges.
Regional Trade and ECOWAS (1)
3.18. My first comment concerns regional trade and ECOWAS. A few years ago, I was a discussant for a fellow ECOWAS member: Cabo Verde. One of the issues that struck me during that Trade Policy Review was that Cabo Verde had very limited trade with the rest of the ECOWAS members. At a first glance, it seems like the situation for The Gambia is different, but if you look closer you realize that The Gambia's trade with ECOWAS is dominated by your trade with Senegal. If you would remove Senegal from the statistics, the trade with the rest of the ECOWAS members is fairly small and you have bigger trading partners such as China and the European Union.
3.19. The Gambia has now implemented the ECOWAS common external tariff (CET). It's a five tier system that will apply to all trade partners except for goods that falls under the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme. I remember that for Cabo Verde, implementation of the CET would lead to a large hike in tariffs. For The Gambia it's the opposite. The average applied MFN tariff rate is now 12.3% compared to 14.1% before the reform. The Gambia had a large number of unbound tariffs before but now, in practice at least, they have been bound by the CET. It has also lead to a situation where there is a huge amount of water in the tariffs, especially in the agriculture sector.
3.20. In this context, I would like to highlight two issues. The first one relates to The Gambia's long term vision of its relationship with the ECOWAS community. It is not uncommon in Africa that local trade is relatively limited. According to many studies and recommendations from Organizations such as the World Bank, there is a great untapped potential here. There are several programmes under ECOWAS designed to increase trade between its members. Several of them are mentioned in The Gambia's report. Therefore, it is of interest to hear more about The Gambia's strategic thinking in this area. What are you doing to increase regional integration and how can that help boost the Gambian economy.
3.21. The second question is more straightforward. Implementing a common regional tariff will certainly bring advantages, especially in a longer perspective. But it is a massive undertaking and especially it should be felt both positive and negative consequences in the short term in specific sectors. So how does The Gambia look at the adaptation of the ECOWAS CET and what kind of
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- 10 - positive and negative effects can you see? Will there be need to supporting measures in some sectors?
State Owned Enterprises and FDI (2)
3.22. Another feature that The Gambia shares with Cabo Verde is the importance of state owned enterprises. According to the report from the WTO Secretariat and also in the World Bank report, virtually all state-owned companies in The Gambia are in financial distress. High government borrowing combined with tight monetary policy has resulted in high interest rates, making life very difficult for the private sector. In combination with weak infrastructure, energy shortages and a complex tax system, this creates several major challenges like public debt, a weak private sector and difficulties in attracting foreign investment.
3.23. I am acutely aware of the fact that this situation was created by the previous administration in The Gambia and that the current Government has the very difficult task trying to clean this up. Some measures are already mentioned in The Gambia's report, but I would be interesting to know more about how The Gambia looks at the possibilities to implement measures to further reduce the role of Government, and to reduce the cost of state-owned enterprises in order to decrease public debt and secure continued good economic growth. In the report from The Gambia, you mention that "…measures will be put in place to end the recurring trend of bailing out state-owned enterprises…". What measures are we talking about here, what measures could be feasible? What actions are facing major difficulties and why?
3.24. Related to the issue of State-Owned Enterprises and the challenges in the business climate is the issue of FDI. Reports from the World Bank, the IMF and the African Development Bank highlight the importance for The Gambia to attract investments. We heard from the Minister that The Gambia has a cooperation with UNCTAD on investments. It would be interesting to hear more about the strategies you have to attract foreign capital. And not least the tourism sector seems to be in need of these kinds of investments.
Capacity Constraints (3)
3.25. The final area I would like to mention concerns capacity constraints. When reading the reports for this TPR, capacity constraints was a recurring theme. This is not unexpected from a small LDC.
3.26. We all know that Aid for Trade (AfT) cannot solve all issues related to capacity constraints. But it can certainly be an important tool. The Gambia has had several projects in cooperation with the EIF and ITC. I also know that there have been a few projects with other actors as well. But there is not a lot of information about that in the reports.
3.27. Maybe this is because The Gambia has been this "forgotten State" that the World Bank talked about when it comes to foreign aid. But it is always valuable to hear more about the experiences of developing countries, especially LDCs when it comes to AfT. And this is, of course, an interest also for me representing a large donor country in this area. Do you have success stories, projects that have been helpful for you? Projects that have not met with expectations? Is it possible to define why projects have been successful or not? Are there specific areas or sectors where AfT is badly needed today as a priority for you?
3.28. This type of information is always valuable to hear from both donors and international organizations.
Conclusion
3.29. In conclusion, I would like to thank the delegation from The Gambia. I think that this TPR clearly shows that the country is working hard to get on the right track. There is a vision and a commitment to continue with the necessary reforms in order to use trade as the very powerful means of development it can be.
3.30. There are certainly challenges, especially for a small LDC like The Gambia with the recent history that you have. But I believe that The Gambia is prepared to deal with these challenges and
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I do hope that this Trade Policy Review will highlight the progress that has been done and also identify areas where more work is needed. Thank you.
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4 STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS
BRAZIL
4.1. Brazil welcomes the trade policy advances that The Gambia has made since the last review and looks forward to a constructive exchange regarding its domestic trade policies and practices, reflecting the strong Gambian commitment to the WTO. Some important developments were mentioned here: enhanced consumer protection, new technical standards policies, investment and procurement reforms. The implementation of the new ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET), starting January 2017, shall also be noted. And Brazil welcomes the announcement made today on the notifications of commitments under categories A, B and C of the TFA.
4.2. In light of the current reform spirit, The Gambia may wish to reflect upon its very modest bindings in the WTO – less than 15% of tariff lines are actually bound, most of which are agricultural goods. Binding coverage of non-agricultural tariff lines is minimal, and the considerable gap between the country's average bound rate, at more than 100%, and the substantially lower average applied MFN rate of 12.3%, is also worrisome. The combination of a limited binding coverage and high average bound rates leaves ample margins for tariff changes and renders the tariff regime less predictable, although, in practice, the ECOWAS Common External Tariff is nowadays the bound customs tariff.
4.3. As described in the background report prepared by the WTO Secretariat, The Gambia, as a Least Developed Country (LDC), still faces significant economic challenges. But as we heard from Dr. Touray, the macroeconomic environment is improving, agriculture and tourism are rebounding, and the new development plan will certainly contribute to wider economic diversification, especially in the manufacturing sector. The Gambia is to be commended by a number of positive economic results, such as achievements in the services sector and the steady growth of the fisheries sector during the period under review – the later a significant development for the economic empowerment of women, an issue whose importance to many in this room cannot be disregarded.
4.4. Let me finish with a word for bilateral trade flows, just to note that 100% of Brazil's imports from The Gambia are manufactured products. Likewise, in 2017, Brazil's exports to The Gambia were predominantly industrial goods, at 74% in 2017.
4.5. I conclude by wishing the Gambian delegation a most successful Trade Policy Review.
UNITED STATES
4.6. I would like to begin by highlighting the fact that, effective January 1 of this year, The Gambia's eligibility for preferential tariff treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act was restored. My Government took this step in recognition of the fact that, following democratic elections in December 2016, The Gambia has made progress in strengthening the rule of law, improving human rights, and supporting political pluralism. We hope that The Gambia will take full advantage of the opportunities under AGOA, as the volume of our bilateral trade to date has been low.
4.7. The Gambia is clearly facing many challenges typical of a least developed country, including limited capacity and resources. Yet, there is much to commend The Gambia with respect to its trade and investment regime. With limited exceptions the country is open to foreign direct investment, and it imposes relatively few barriers to imports. The Secretariat report seemed to indicate that greater clarity would be welcome as to what import prohibitions or restrictions do exist, as well as how import permits for restricted products are administered.
4.8. The Government of The Gambia has recognized for several years now the need to diversify its revenue sources beyond tariffs, and its participation in the ECOWAS common external tariff has inherently reduced its autonomy in setting tariff rates.
4.9. We were very pleased to see The Gambia ratify the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. The Government has signalled a strong interest in maintaining its high ranking in the region for ease of cross-border trade. Implementation of the TFA will help reduce the cost of doing business in The
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Gambia and will foster greater certainty for the trading community. We look forward to The Gambia notifying its Category A and B commitments to the TFA Committee.
4.10. The Gambia has a relatively good track record on making notifications to the WTO, with some required notifications still outstanding. My Government attaches great importance to WTO Members meeting this foundational requirement, with all the benefits that such transparency provides to all concerned. The Gambia should continue to provide international stakeholders the opportunity to comment on its draft regulations affecting trade, such as the one the government is developing concerning the labelling of pre-packaged food.
4.11. We were pleased to see in the Secretariat's report that The Gambia has reformed its government procurement regime in line with international best practices although we do note that a large proportion of public procurement appears to be occurring through restrictive tendering.
4.12. Finally, we view as positive the range of intellectual property rights protections in The Gambia's legislation, the fact that the copyright law is being amended to strengthen it, and the fact that the government is pursuing enforcement. We would encourage the Government to join additional WIPO treaties, such as the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
4.13. In closing, we welcome this opportunity to review The Gambia's trade policy regime and to provide feedback and observations on areas of progress and of concern. We recognize the challenges that The Gambia is facing but believe that continuing down the path of transparency, reform, and open trade and investment policies will keep The Gambia on a positive trajectory. We look forward to studying The Gambia's answers to our questions and to those of other Members. We wish you a successful Trade Policy Review.
EUROPEAN UNION
4.14. The EU would like to start by commending The Gambia for its significant progress towards its re-integration into the international community.
4.15. The Gambia ranks among the poorest countries in the world and, during the period under review, its economic performance has been affected by a series of external shocks. Despite the economic challenges that the current Government is facing, the EU acknowledges that The Gambia has maintained a generally open trade and investment regime since its last TPR held in 2010. Recently, its economy has started to recover following the sharp growth slowdown in 2016 and economic growth in 2017 is projected at 3%, with a strong rebound in tourism and trade, and renewed interest from foreign direct investors in energy, tourism, agriculture and transportation.
4.16. These positive results are encouraging and could help The Gambia to become an attractive production platform and a key regional trading hub.
4.17. Among the reforms that have taken place during the period under review, the EU appreciates The Gambia's policy framework for investment as it contains measures that will boost FDI's and, more in general, the economic growth. The EU also appreciates the adoption of the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) from 1 January 2017.
4.18. The EU welcomes The Gambia's recognition of the importance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, and, in particular, the EU congratulates the country for its efforts to establish a Trade Facilitation Committee. However, the EU notes that the notifications of its Category A, B and C commitments are still outstanding and encourages The Gambia to submit them in the near future. This would allow the EU as well as other donors to clearly identify its needs for tailored and adequate technical and financial assistance for supporting its implementation.
4.19. A word on our bilateral relationship. Relations between the EU and The Gambia are governed by the Cotonou Agreement. A new chapter in relations with The Gambia has been opened in January 2017, following the change of government marked by the determination of The Gambian Government to reengage with its partners at regional and international level, including through trade. Since then, a broad and intensive political dialogue between the EU and The Gambia is ongoing.
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4.20. The Gambia is a Party of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and West Africa. Gambian authorities have expressed in a first announcement back in February 2017 their commitment to sign the agreement. The EU hopes that The Gambia's signature of the EPA will become effective as soon as feasible. In the meantime, The Gambia continues to benefit from preferential treatment under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement.
4.21. The EU continues to be The Gambia's main donor in the area of development cooperation. The envelope available to The Gambia in the 11th European Development Fund for the period 2014-2020 amounts to €150 million. EU has stepped up support for sustainable and inclusive development and is committed to supporting the government's reform agenda to establish strong democratic institutions in full respect of human rights and the rule of law.
4.22. At regional level, The Gambia is a member of the regional integration group of countries forming the Economic Community of West African States as well as the African Union. The EU encourages The Gambia as a member of ECOWAS and of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), to actively participate in regional integration and economic development policies.
4.23. At a multilateral level, the EU acknowledges that The Gambia's broad objective is to maintain an open and liberal trading environment and to better integrate The Gambia into the global economy.
4.24. The EU shares with The Gambia the great importance to the issue of gender equality and women's pivotal role in the economy and, in particular, is pleased that The Gambia acknowledges the positive impact trade has on gender empowerment. In this respect, the EU commends the Government of The Gambia for the establishment of the National Gender Policy 2010-2020.
4.25. Within this general overall positive context, the EU considers that in certain areas there is still room for improvement. In particular:
First, The Gambia should further foster a business-friendly environment by streamlining business establishment procedures, facilitate the access to financing, improving the procedures in labour market, building capacity in competition regime, and increasing efforts in tackling corruption.
Second, The Gambia should develop a competitive private sector and, in particular, it should continue promoting investments in priority sectors, such as agro-processing, energy and infrastructure, and ICT.
Third and last point, the EU appreciates the commitment of The Gambia's government to the multilateral trading system and, referring to its call for support contained in its Government report, the EU stands ready to support its efforts in the implementation of the WTO commitments and to enhance its integration into the global economy. The National Development Plan will be an important instrument in order to focalise donor support.
4.26. On behalf of the EU, I wish The Gambia the utmost success during its Trade Policy Review.
CANADA
4.27. Canada does not currently have extensive commercial relations with The Gambia but we nonetheless want to take the floor today to encourage the Government's efforts to rebuild public institutions and improve governance and service delivery for the Gambian people.
4.28. A review of the Secretariat and Government reports reveals the scope of liberalization efforts pursued by the new Government of The Gambia in many sectors of its economy. The success of these reforms will certainly be assured by sound macro-economic management and good governance.
4.29. We note, for example, that the country has already achieved improvements through structural and fiscal reforms introduced since the last review. These include full adoption of the ECOWAS common tariff; a new investment law; as well as new legislation dealing with competition, fisheries, food standards and intellectual property. The Gambia has also reformed its
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Industrial Property Act and government procurement regime in line with international best practices, and Canada encourages The Gambia to consider acceding to the Agreement on Government Procurement.
4.30. While Canada recognizes The Gambia's strong will for reform, Canada also believes that to achieve its goals the country needs to unlock its underlying potential by taking concrete steps to enable growth across multiple sectors.
4.31. We note that the Government of The Gambia continues to prioritize the agriculture sector in its development agenda and to reinforce relationships with development partners to promote agricultural production and food productivity for food security and enhanced rural livelihoods. In this context, we need to make sure that women and girls are empowered to reach their full potential so they can earn their own livelihoods, which will benefit families and promote the economic growth of their communities and country. Canada applauds The Gambia's endorsement of the Declaration on Women and Trade at MC11 and look forward to cooperating with you in this respect.
4.32. Another area requiring immediate focus and investment are the infrastructure and power sectors. Access to affordable and reliable power as well as good infrastructure are a prerequisite for economic development, with the potential to have a multiplier effect on growth. In addition, the power and infrastructure sectors facilitate high capital spending, which can promote investment and build economic competitiveness.
4.33. The Gambia has recently taken a variety of measures to address corruption and reduce its devastating effects on its economy. We commend these measures, but cannot help but note that the Gambia still ranks 146th out of 185 economies in the most recent World Bank's Ease of Doing Business survey, and places 145th out of 176 in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. We therefore welcome Gambia's continuing efforts on this matter.
4.34. Achieving the goal of long-term growth depends on continuous improvements in the performance of the public sector and state-owned enterprises, and in particular in strengthening the private sector, including through further privatization. Improvements in these areas would attract a broader range of potential partners, including many firms and institutional investors from Canada and elsewhere. We invite and encourage The Gambia to keep Members informed of further developments in this area.
4.35. We welcome The Gambia's ratification of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation and look forward to receiving notifications of its Category A, B, and C commitments, as well as indicative dates for Category B. We also encourage the Gambia to deposit its instrument of acceptance of the Protocol amending the TRIPS agreement.
4.36. Although commercial relations with Canada are currently limited, there are always opportunities, particularly in education, tourism, agriculture, energy and infrastructure for further business linkages. The Gambia's maritime and Atlantic connections also make it an important potential regional partner for many WTO Members.
4.37. We therefore wish the delegation of The Gambia all success in this Trade Policy Review and in your ongoing reform efforts, and we will follow with interest your continued integration into the global trading system.
JAPAN
4.38. Needless to say, Japan has been providing cooperation for the development of The Gambia for many years, and Japan will continue to make every effort to maintain and further develop the good relationship between us.
4.39. According to the Secretariat reports, The Gambia's recent real GDP growth has been relatively weaker than previous years, averaging 2.9% in the review period, as a result of certain internal issues and external shocks such as natural disasters.
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4.40. Moreover, The Gambia's economy relies on two main drivers of growth: services, which comprise 66% of GDP; and agriculture, which makes up 21% of GDP. So Japan hopes The Gambia will accelerate its industrial diversification to promote the stabilization of its economy.
4.41. On the other hand, Japan welcomes the country's introduction of VAT in January 2013, which led to its economic growth of 4.8% in 2013. We expect The Gambia to continue to promote positive economic reform.
4.42. Let me turn to the WTO issues.
4.43. We commend The Gambia on the efforts it has been making to commit to the multilateral trading system. During the review period, The Gambia provided 21 notifications to the WTO. Moreover, The Gambia deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement in July 2017, and today, the Gambia submitted its Category A, B, and C notifications to the WTO. We look forward to studying the Gambia's Category C notifications which we can identify the Gambia's needs of assistance.
4.44. Let me next make some comments on The Gambia's trade policies.
4.45. Japan is pleased to note that The Gambia has actively introduced and maintained various methods for trade facilitation.
4.46. For example, in January 2017, The Gambia implemented the new five-tiered ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET), which has a lower simple average applied MFN rate of CET than that of The Gambia's customs tariff of 2010.
4.47. Moreover, The Gambia has taken the following actions to promote trade: it relaxed its documentation requirements for importers; it made appropriate pre-arrival declarations to The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), which helped to expedite the customs process; and it updated and rolled out its national electronic customs date system (ASYCUDA).
4.48. The Gambia's efforts in this regard have increased its ranking to number two in the region in terms of ease of cross-border trade in 2017, and have also contributed to facilitating world trade.
4.49. Before concluding, I would like to touch upon Japan's initiatives to provide support for African countries.
4.50. First, Japan announced plans to implement quality infrastructure investment through such means as region-wide development, resource and energy development, and urban development at the 6th meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which was held in 2016.
4.51. Second, on 8 December 2017, the Japanese Government made a pledge to provide approximately US$300 million over the next three years to support the development of the information and communications technology field, including e-commerce, in developing countries.
4.52. Japan hopes The Gambia will utilize these forms of assistance for further development and actively engage in future discussions on e-commerce and the digital economy.
4.53. We wish The Gambia a successful and productive TPR.
CHINA
4.54. As the reports point out, Gambia is one of the least developed and poorest countries in the world. Though Gambia has weathered the global financial crisis relatively well, the economic performance was considerably weaker after 2010 and the new Government is facing a serious of economic challenges including large budget deficits, weaknesses in the business environment, infrastructure bottlenecks, etc.. Thus, we would encourage Gambia to undertake further domestic reforms and adjustment of macroeconomic and trade policies, to relieve the high government borrowing, create a more competitive business environment, attract more investments and enhance economic resilience and diversification.
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4.55. We also appreciate Gambia's commitment to the multilateral trading system in the Government report and commend its ratification of Trade Facilitation Agreement in 2017.
4.56. China attaches importance to cooperation with Gambia and is willing to enhance Gambia's capacity for self-development and sustainable development. We have granted Zero Tariff Treatment to the Products in 97% of the Tariff Lines from Gambia since 1 December 2017.
4.57. On 21 December 2017, witnessed by President Xi and Gambia's President Barrow, China's Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan and Gambia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad Darboe signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Economy, Trade, Investment and Technical Cooperation between China and Gambia in Beijing. According to the MOU, China and Gambia officially build bilateral joint committee of economics and trade mechanism. We firmly believe the established committee will lead the friendly cooperation between the two countries in areas such as trade, investment, infrastructure, development assistance and human resources, playing an important role in developing the relationship between China and Gambia.
4.58. According to our statistics, the two-way trade reached US$410 million from January to October 2017, increasing by 18.8%. The stock of China's investment in Gambia is US$12.8 million by the end of 2016. China would like to continue to earnestly make our due support to the development of Gambia under the South-South cooperation framework.
4.59. We have raised some questions on Gambia's economic and trade policy, covering the areas of investment, taxation, environmental impact assessment and business environment improvement. We appreciate the responses from the Gambia's delegation to our questions, which we will study closely.
4.60. I would wish this Trade Policy Review of Gambia a complete success.
THAILAND
4.61. In 2016, the trade value between Thailand and The Gambia was US$21 million, with exports and imports value at US$20 million and US$200 thousand, respectively.
4.62. Although the bilateral trade between Thailand and The Gambia is still relatively small, there is trade potential that can be explored. For exports, such potential may exist in plastics, fabrics, cereals, vehicles, paper and electric machinery. While wood, iron, and steel can be considered high-potential imports.
4.63. Thailand would like to congratulate The Gambia on depositing its instrument of acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement on 11 July 2017. We would also like to commend The Gambia for its effort to further facilitate trade, which includes the implementation of laws and regulations in accordance with the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation; the adoption of international standards; and the reform of its government procurement regime in line with international best practice.
4.64. In this review, Thailand submitted a few questions to The Gambia, covering, among others, issues regarding the maritime transport strategy of the Government, foreign investment in river transport, and land leasing by a foreign investor in tourism sector. We thank The Gambia for timely responses to our questions, and will study them in detail with great interest.
4.65. In conclusion, Thailand would like to express our appreciation to The Gambian delegation for today's presentation. We wish The Gambia every success in the third Trade Policy Review.
INDIA
4.66. Gambia is amongst the smallest countries on the African Mainland. The GDP growth of Gambia slowed down from 4.3% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2016 and during the period under review grew at an average of 2.9% from 2010-16. The economy of Gambia still remains largely reliant on agriculture, tourism, re-exports, remittances and international aid. The challenges facing Gambia include large public debt, diversification of the economy, infrastructural needs, vulnerability to
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- 18 - droughts and addressing poverty and socio-economic development. We commend the Government of Gambia for the efforts being made to address these challenges including taking fiscal measures for revenue mobilisation, reduction of fiscal deficit, creating of a competitive business environment, addressing debt sustainability and diversification of the economy.
4.67. India and Gambia share warm and cordial relations. The bilateral trade between India and Gambia stood at USD 106 million in 2016-17. Though modest there is considerable potential to expand trade and economic ties between both countries in areas including textiles, cotton yarn, drugs and pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, engineering goods, machinery, metals and minerals.
4.68. During the third India-Africa Summit, our Prime Minister announced a comprehensive development assistance plan for all the African countries over the next five years which include US$10 billion in LOCs; US$600 million as grant assistance and US$100 million through India-Africa Development Assistance Fund. Under Development Partnership Cooperation, India has been assisting Gambia for socio-economic development. Concessionary lines of credit have been extended for the following projects:
i. US$6.7 million for a tractor assembly plant project;
ii. US$10 million for the construction of National Assembly Building Complex; iii. In 2014 a US$22.5 million credit line for expansion of electricity project in Greater Banjul Area and replacement of Asbestos Water Pipes by UPVC Pipes in Greater Banjul Area; iv. Recently in 2015 a US$92 million credit line for expansion of Banjul port in Gambia and US$10 million for the Gambia Rural Electrification Extension Project.
4.69. India is also extending assistance to Gambia in the area of new and renewable energy, vocational training, ICT and agro & food processing.
4.70. For capacity building and human resources development, India is regularly offering scholarships to Gambian professionals under India's Economic and Technical Cooperation programme. Scholarships are also being extended to students from Gambia for studying in India by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
4.71. India has always been a supporter of special dispensation for LDCs and provides 98.2% tariff lines as duty free or preferential access to LDCs with applicable tariff on all cotton lines at zero. We have also provided one of the most liberal packages for services waiver, including complete waiver of visa fees.
4.72. To conclude, we look forward to working closely with the authorities of Gambia for further expanding and harnessing the potential of our trade and investment ties for mutual benefit. We wish the delegation of Gambia a productive and successful TPR.
BENIN
4.73. The delegation of Benin endorses the statements made by Rwanda on behalf of the African Group and Cambodia on behalf of the LDC Group.
4.74. The Gambia's economic performance over the review period was encouraging, despite external shocks and the effects of climatic variations to which the economy remains highly vulnerable, leading to a sinusoidal growth pattern, with a drop to 0.9% in 2014 followed by an upswing to 4.3% in 2015. Growth is projected at 3% for 2017.
4.75. The delegation of Benin commends and encourages the Government's efforts to introduce reforms aimed at revitalizing the domestic economy, in particular by implementing the customs and excise duty provisions of the ECOWAS CET, simplifying the tax system, launching the fourth component of Gamswitch to provide a greater and more efficient means of financial transaction processing in the country, and further liberalizing telecommunications to attract investors in the sector.
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4.76. Agriculture, fisheries and tourism are the key sectors of the economy. Various structural reforms implemented by The Gambia, such as the agricultural reform, the reform on competition in the manufacturing sector, and the tax and budgetary reform have helped the country achieve economic and trade results. The Gambia will need support to continue and improve these outcomes.
4.77. The delegation of Benin encourages The Gambia to pursue its efforts to diversify and restructure its economy.
4.78. The Gambia's trade policies are aimed inter alia at boosting exports, economic development and job creation. Two strategic plans have been drawn up to that end, namely the Medium-Term Plan 2016-2020 and the National Export Strategy 2013-2017, both of which are underpinned by the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) carried out in mid-June 2103.
4.79. The country's firm commitment to the multilateral trading system and regional integration, aimed at using trade as a tool to stimulate growth and support development, has resulted in the ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the signing of several regional, sub-regional and bilateral trade agreements.
4.80. The delegation of Benin invites development partners to support The Gambia's efforts to develop its socio-economic and transport infrastructure and to realize its great potential, particularly in the agricultural, fisheries, energy, mining and tourism sectors.
4.81. The delegation of Benin thanks the WTO Secretariat and the Government of The Gambia for the highly informative reports prepared for this review of The Gambia's trade policies.
4.82. It wishes The Gambia every success in this Trade Policy Review.
ARGENTINA
4.83. The Argentine Republic is very interested to note that since its previous trade policy review in 2010, The Gambia has maintained an open trade and investment regime. The country has weathered the financial crisis relatively well, recording solid economic growth from 2007 to date, with a figure of over 5.6% in the period 2007-2010.
4.84. Our bilateral trade has expanded significantly over the past two years, exceeding 2011 levels by almost 40%. Argentina's exports to The Gambia include rice, beans and peas, among other agricultural products.
4.85. We emphasize the importance of The Gambia's tariff reform, which led to the adoption of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) in January 2017. Adoption of the CET entailed adjustments in the customs duty rates for nearly two thirds (4,000) of all tariff lines.
4.86. Argentina welcomes the actions undertaken by The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) and highlights, among other things, the Agency's administration of the special investment certificate scheme, which offers a range of incentives for foreign direct investment in priority sectors and areas.
4.87. We would also like to emphasize the substantial upgrading of telecommunications infrastructure, especially with the establishment of the Africa Coast to Europe submarine cable landing station in 2012 and the completion of the nationwide fibre-optic backbone network in 2015. We hope that the new National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policy 2017-2025 will become a key tool to improve the regulatory environment and broadband access across the country.
4.88. Argentina notes that The Gambia has notified the WTO that its laws, regulations and administrative procedures are in line with the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation. It also notes that substantial import duty and tax exemptions have been granted on imports of capital and intermediate goods in order to safeguard the competitiveness of the economy.
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4.89. As a final point, Argentina greatly welcomes the progress made by The Gambia in the area of standards and technical requirements. Indeed, since its entry into operation in 2011, The Gambia Standards Bureau (TGSB) has published 33 standards, most of them directly adopted from international standards.
4.90. Lastly, while reiterating our appreciation of this renewed opportunity to exchange information and comments on the trade policies and practices of The Gambia, we would like to draw attention once again to the importance of this exercise in transparency from every point of view, and to wish the Gambian authorities a successful conclusion to this review.
SINGAPORE
4.91. Trade flows between Singapore and The Gambia, albeit modest, saw healthy growth in 2016.1 This is a positive trend and we believe there is potential for deeper bilateral economic relations.
4.92. Despite weathering the 2008 Global Financial Crisis relatively well, The Gambia has since seen slower growth averaging 2.9% between 2010 and 2016. This was primarily hampered by weaknesses in the business environment, infrastructure bottlenecks, and external shocks. That said, we note The Gambia's recent efforts at improving its business environment, including in amending its Industrial Property Act (to improve protection of Intellectual Property rights), and upgrading its telecommunication infrastructure through the National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policy 2017-2025. We are encouraged by these developments and urge The Gambia to continue in its efforts to ensure sustained future economic growth.
4.93. We commend The Gambia's timely ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). We hope that this will avail them of further resources to further improve their business and trading environment. We also appreciate The Gambia's efforts at transparency in submitting 21 WTO notifications in the period under review. We note that there are still outstanding notifications, including on domestic support in Agriculture, and we encourage The Gambia to rectify this as soon as possible. We also note that The Gambia has yet to ratify the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement, and also urge them to do so as soon as possible.
4.94. Finally, we wish The Gambia every success in its 3rd Trade Policy Review.
GHANA
4.95. Since the last review, The Gambian economy has been generally stable with robust economic growth until recently when growth contracted from 4.3% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2016. The contraction was principally due to the decline in tourism earnings and reduced agricultural outputs due to, among others, delayed rains in 2014. Subsistence, rural and rain fed agriculture is one of the major drivers of The Gambia's economy contributing about 21% to the GDP in 2016 and serving as the main source of livelihood of the majority of the rural population.
4.96. The Gambia relies heavily on services which contributed about 66% to GDP in 2016. However, after experiencing some decline in 2015, the services sector again picked up growth in 2016, which was quite impressive, especially in the 2014 Ebola crisis in the region.
4.97. The Gambian Government's effort at holding inflation at below 5%, tightening monetary policy and strengthening banking supervision, is commendable. We wish to encourage The Gambia to improve its debt sustainability policies as a means of reducing public debt.
4.98. On the bilateral level, Ghana has had long historical ties with The Gambia. Though trade between the two countries is very minimal, Ghanaian teachers and experts have been working in the Gambia since colonial days.
4.99. To demonstrate our bilateral attachment with The Gambia, last year, even before President Akufo-Addo had formed his Government, Ghana sent 205 combat troops to The Gambia as part of
1 Trade flows increased by 58.7% to 1.39 million SGD in 2016.
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- 21 - the regional mission to support the creation of a peaceful environment and to facilitate the inauguration of the President-Elect, Adama Barrow, on Thursday, 19 January 2017.
4.100. At the Multilateral level, we recognize The Gambia's ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement in March 2017 and the measures to improve trade facilitation infrastructure including the Single Window business registration and the building of the Cargo Complex at Banjul International Airport, with assistance from the EIF project, to address inadequate storage for export products which will go a long way to improving customs clearance and delivery of port services.
4.101. On the ECOWAS Front, we welcome The Gambia's ratification of the Free Movement Protocol and all its supplementary protocols, the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and the Common External Tariff which will improve intra-ECOWAS trade for the benefit of all Members.
4.102. As a Member of the ECOWAS, Ghana appreciates The Gambia's acceptance to host the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority, a body to regulate anti-competitive practices within the regional market.
4.103. The performance of the agriculture sector of the Gambia, since the last review, has been declining with total agricultural output dropping from 308,141 tonnes in 2010 to 268,543 tonnes in 2015. As one of the main contributors to the GDP of the country, and the main stay of a majority of the populace, we wish to spur the Government on, to reinforce its efforts at addressing the challenges in the agricultural sector such as the introduction of projects to improve irrigation and build feeder roads to provide access to markets for agricultural produce.
4.104. Lastly, Ghana would like to call on development partners to support The Gambia in implementing its trade and economic policies to reduce poverty and create jobs for its people.
4.105. Ghana wishes The Gambia a successful Trade Policy Review.
PAKISTAN
4.106. The Gambia is the smallest country on the African mainland, with a per capita income of less than US$500. It has managed to keep on growing economically despite the global challenges and external shocks. It recorded solid economic growth in the period 2007-10, averaging over 5.6% and 2.9% in the period 2010-16. The Gambia's economy relies mainly on services which at 66% of GDP in 2016 is the main driver of growth. Remittances and international aid play an important role in sustaining the economy. The export base is very small (US$19.1 million in 2015), consisting mainly of groundnuts and fish.
4.107. Pakistan welcomes The Gambia's acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. It is worthwhile to mention that The Gambia is a member of the least developed countries (LDC) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) groups, the African Group, the G-90, and the "W52" sponsors.
4.108. The WTO and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trade regime provide the basic parameters for The Gambia's trade policies.
4.109. For the Gambia, the change from the national customs tariff (2010) to the ECOWAS CET is a major tariff reform, entailing adjustments in the customs duty rates for nearly two thirds of all tariff lines. The simple average applied MFN tariff rate of the CET (12.3%) is lower than that of the Gambian customs tariff of 2010 (14.1%), and a wider range of products is now classified as inputs (essential commodities, raw materials, and capital goods), which have had their tariffs reduced to 5%. Most goods can be traded without any restrictions. Nonetheless, The Gambia has notified the WTO that it does not maintain an import licensing system and has never used trade contingency measures.
4.110. Pakistan appreciates that Gambia has maintained its generally open trade and investment regime since the last TPR in 2010. The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) is responsible for investment and export promotion, administering the Special Investment
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Certificate (SIC) scheme and the export processing zone near Banjul International Airport. SICs offer a range of incentives (with minimum FDI of US$250,000 in priority sectors and areas).
4.111. Pakistan has noted that The Gambia has made progress in the area of standards and technical requirements. The Gambia Standards Bureau (TGSB) became operational in 2011 and has since promulgated 33 standards, most of them directly adopted from international standards.
4.112. Competition rules are governed by the Competition Act of 2007, with The Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (GCCPC) as the enforcement agency.
4.113. Pakistan commends that with regard to developments in the services sector, the banking sector is liquid and profitable. Most banks are foreign-owned. The payments system, including the clearing and settlement infrastructure, has been modernized through technical improvements. Pakistan welcomes the fact that the telecom infrastructure has been substantially upgraded, with the establishment of the African Coast to Europe submarine cable landing station in 2012 and the completion of a nationwide fibre-optic backbone network in 2015. The new National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policy 2017-2025 aims at technology neutral regulatory environment and more affordable broadband access in the country. Two out of four mobile carriers are foreign-owned.
4.114. We are highly appreciative of the positive role played by the Gambian Mission in Geneva towards upholding the sanctity of the multilateral trading system and their engagement in this forum.
4.115. In the end, we want to wish Gambia a very successful and a fruitful TPR.
TOGO, COORDINATOR OF THE ECOWAS MEMBER STATES
4.116. Based on the information contained in the two trade policy review reports, we wish to make the following comments and observations.
4.117. Despite real GDP growth slipping to 2.2% in 2016 from 4.3% the year before, the outlook of the Gambian economy is positive, with an anticipated real GDP growth rate of 3.0%.
4.118. At sectoral level, services experienced a decline, increasing by only 3.7% in 2015 compared to 6.0% the previous year. The sector's underperformance was attributed to the low turnout of tourists as a result of the 2014 Ebola crisis.
4.119. Fortunately, a return to growth in agriculture and tourism is forecast as a result of increased investment and policy coordination among key stakeholders in 2017.
4.120. In this connection, we are pleased to note that the Government of The Gambia continues to prioritize agriculture in its development agenda by strengthening relationships with development partners in order to boost agricultural production and food productivity with a view to ensuring food security and enhancing rural livelihoods. We welcome these measures on account of their effectiveness in combating poverty.
4.121. At ECOWAS level, we note that The Gambia benefits from several trade and economic development programmes and has implemented protocols and programmes to guide its regional integration and economic development agendas. Among the most relevant for trade are the Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods, the ECOWAS Inter-State Road Transit Scheme (ISRT) and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme.
4.122. We commend The Gambia for applying the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) since 1 January 2017, and both our countries remain committed to the renegotiation of WTO tariff concessions that all the ECOWAS countries are about to undertake as a group over the coming triennium 2018-2020 - even though The Gambia, as is the case of several other ECOWAS members, has not breached its bindings as a result of implementing the CET.
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4.123. We hope that with sound reforms and engagement on the part of the country's current leadership, the economy of The Gambia will continue on the path towards structural transformation for the benefit of the Gambian population.
4.124. Lastly, we wish the delegation of The Gambia a successful Trade Policy Review.
SENEGAL
4.125. Senegal endorses the statements made by Rwanda, Cambodia and Togo on behalf of the African and LDC Groups and ECOWAS.
4.126. Since its previous review in 2010, The Gambia has maintained its open trade and investment regime despite difficulties at the political level and a challenging environment.
4.127. Real GDP growth has been weaker than expected, averaging 2.9% in the period 2010- 2016. On the other hand, the country's economy shows encouraging signs with real GDP growth forecast at 3%.
4.128. The Gambia relies heavily on services, which account for 66% of GDP according to 2016 estimates. The services sector is the main driver of growth, along with agriculture and fisheries.
4.129. Remittances and international aid also play an important role in sustaining the economy.
4.130. The outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in 2014 has had consequences for The Gambia and its neighbours. Nonetheless, the Government's efforts hold the promise of growth in the tourism and agricultural sectors as a result of increased investment and policy coordination among key stakeholders.
4.131. It should be noted that the Government has reformed its key trade policies and that the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) was adopted on 1 January 2017. The Gambia has also pursued its trade facilitation endeavours, as evidenced by the deposit of its instrument of ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement in July 2017.
4.132. Gambian customs procedures with respect to customs valuation, rules of origin, and transit are governed by ECOWAS rules. The Gambia has notified the WTO that its laws and regulations are in line with the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation. As indicated in the Secretariat report, most goods can be traded without any restrictions.
4.133. Such momentum argues for an increase in trade relations between The Gambia and the other African countries, particularly the ECOWAS countries and Senegal.
4.134. I would like to highlight the special links that unite the Republic of The Gambia and the Republic of Senegal. The two countries have historical, cultural and multisectoral ties expressed through solidarity and significant cooperation and trade relations.
4.135. As the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr Macky Sall, reiterated at the swearing-in ceremony of the President of The Gambia, Mr Adama Barrow, the two countries are inseparable because they share the same values, the same way of life, and the same history. The Gambia and Senegal are one people. The delegation of Senegal would like to take this opportunity to call on WTO Members to give special consideration to The Gambia so that it can expand its export opportunities, implement its WTO commitments, and increase its integration in the multilateral trading system and the global economy.
4.136. Madam Minister, the delegation of Senegal congratulates you and your Government as a whole for your endeavours and for the reforms undertaken to create jobs and reduce poverty despite a challenging international economic environment
4.137. Senegal urges the Republic of The Gambia to persist in its commitment and efforts to further open up its economy to trade and global value chains, in particular by continuing to reduce tariff protection, eliminating quantitative restrictions, streamlining foreign trade procedures, and establishing an environment conducive to business development, in order to complete the
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- 24 - structural transformation of the country's economy and achieve more inclusive and sustainable growth.
4.138. We look forward to cooperating with the Permanent Mission that The Gambia intends to establish in Geneva. In closing, I wish you and the delegation accompanying you every success in this review of your country's trade policies.
EGYPT
4.139. Egypt supports the statement of Rwanda on behalf of the African Group.
4.140. Egypt is pleased to see that, despite certain unfavourable developments that have affected the national economy of The Gambia, such as the Ebola crisis, the decline in tourism earnings and reduced agricultural outputs, the Gambian economy has been generally stable with robust economic growth over the last five years. Furthermore, the outlook of The Gambian economy is positive with an anticipated real GDP growth rate of 3.0%.
4.141. Egypt commends the fiscal measures adopted by the Government of The Gambia with a view to improving revenue mobilization, reducing the fiscal deficit and creating a competitive business environment, leading ultimately to the enhancement of the private sector development as well as attracting investments.
4.142. On another note, Egypt encourages The Gambia to further pursue tax reforms over the medium term to enhance revenues and strengthen the business environment.
4.143. As for monetary policies, Egypt commends the monetary policy adopted by the Government of The Gambia, which aims at holding inflation to no more than 5% to prevent further price increases.
4.144. We note with appreciation Gambia's commitment to tightening up the monetary policy and the continued strengthening of the supervision of the banking system to ensure compliance with the banking rules and operations.
4.145. Egypt is of the opinion that development is central to the function of the global trading system, and that trade plays a focal role in achieving sustainable development to various nations. Consequently, and since the Gambia is a least developing country, realizing development necessitates integration to the multilateral trading system. We are, as well, of the conviction that this proactive integration of The Gambia will not be effectively realized without extending necessary technical assistance. Consequently, we call upon the WTO to play its inherent role in this regard, in such a way that enables The Gambia to make full use of its potentials in realizing sustainable development.
CAMBODIA ON BEHALF OF THE LDC GROUP
4.146. We have assessed through the reports that, since its last TPR, the Gambia has maintained its open trade and investment regime, but the real GDP growth has been considerably weaker, averaging 2.9% in the period 2010-16. However, the Gambian economy is positively projected with the anticipated real GDP growth rate of 3.0%.
4.147. We have noted that Gambia's economy relies mainly on services (66% of GDP in 2016) as the main driver of growth and drought-prone agriculture sector (21% of GDP in 2016). Remittances and international aid play an important role in sustaining the economy. The service sector declined, with a growth of only 3.7% in 2015 compared to 6.0% of the previous year. The underperformance of this sector was attributed to the low turnout of tourist as a result of the 2014 Ebola crisis. Nonetheless, there is an expected growth in agriculture as well as tourism through the increase of investment and policy coordination amongst key stakeholders in upcoming years.
4.148. We have seen from the reports that, even though the country is open to foreign investment, economic growth has been affected by weaknesses of the business environment, including a complex tax system and infrastructure bottlenecks. Foreign direct investment (FDI)
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- 25 - flows to Gambia have been instable, and remain far below levels preceding the global financial crisis. In this regard, we recommend the country to consider simplify its business environment.
4.149. We have also observed that, in response to low trade and economic development performance, the Gambian Government has reformed its main trade policies with the adoption of the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) since 1 January 2017. The LDC Group wishes the country a successful implementation of its trade policy reform.
4.150. We have been aware that Gambia, as an LDC, benefits from the EU's Everything But Arms (EBA) Initiative and also benefits from duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) accorded to LDCs by India, Republic of Korea, Morocco and the People's Republic of China. In this connection, the LDC Group calls on other Members to further grant non-reciprocal trade preferential treatment to LDCs, including Gambia to enhance their export opportunities.
4.151. Finally, the LDC Group calls on WTO Members to continue their efforts to support small economies like the Gambia in the implementation of the WTO commitments and to enhance their integration into the multilateral trading system and the global economy.
4.152. Once again, on behalf of the LDC Group, I wish Gambia every success in their initiatives in promoting trade and economic development as well as a successful third TPR.
RWANDA ON BEHALF OF THE AFRICAN GROUP
4.153. The two reports highlight progress and challenges facing the Gambia's trade and development. It is highlighted that throughout the review period, The Gambia's economy has been relatively stable with a GDP growth of around 5.6% (but with a weaker real GDP growth averaging 2.9% in the period of 2010-2016); while the economic outlook is predicted to be relatively positive with a real GDP growth rate of 3%. Inflation has been kept at a single digit although it is still above the Central Bank target of 5%. We commend the Government of the Gambia for al macroeconomic efforts undertaken in this regard. At sectoral level, however, the challenges seem huge although not insurmountable; but to address current structural challenges, it will require a transformative agenda for a future sustained and inclusive economic growth.
4.154. Indeed, The Gambia's economy relies heavily on services accounting for 66% of GDP in 2016 (WTO report); 21% for agriculture; a meagre 5-6% for manufacturing and 2% for fisheries. This said, we positively note the Government's commitment to implement sectoral policies for more diversification and productivity. In this regard, we welcome the review of the industrial policy which is underway with the objective of transforming the manufacturing sector. Likewise, we welcome efforts towards sustained diversification of food production despite pervasive drought.
4.155. More generally, the Gambia, as a small economy, exhibits a trade profile that has a number of similarities with most African economies:
i. A small export basket dominated by primary goods; ii. A higher trade deficit; iii. Insignificant manufacturing value added exports.
4.156. According to the UNIDO Report 2016, most African countries are experiencing a premature deindustrialization (i.e. decreasing manufacturing outputs and decreasing manufacturing jobs). A small share of manufacturing value added in GDP, such as that of The Gambia (5-6%), which is common to many African countries, is detrimental to the future sustainable development of the continent; because manufacturing has a huge potential for technological change than any other sector. We therefore fully support The Gambia, and indeed all African countries to pursue industrial development in line with the 2063 Agenda, the Africa we want. Industrial development will help rebalancing the overall economic structure; create needed massive jobs and lay a solid foundation for technological catch-up and structural transformation. Such a transformative agenda shall contribute to effective integration of the Gambia into the ECOWAS and the world economy. We urge all donors (bilateral and multilateral donors) to continue and increase their support to the Gambia in order to realize these noble goals.
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4.157. I take this opportunity to wish the delegation of The Gambia a very successful Trade Policy Review.
SIERRA LEONE
4.158. Sierra Leone aligns itself with the statements of the LDC and African Groups.
4.159. Sierra Leone has a number of things in common with Gambia. We both are classified as Least developed countries and are members of the Economic Community of West African States. Our historical links is reflected in prevalence of the Sierra Leone lingua franca in the Gambia.
4.160. Sierra Leone would like to congratulate the new Gambian Government for the impressive steps it has taken in the past year to bring Gambia "back to the fold". In this connection, Sierra Leone notes the Government of the Gambia has embarked on a comprehensive economic reform to re-integrate itself into the global economy by improving its business environment to promote and facilitate trade and investment. The Government recently adopted a new National Entrepreneurship Policy to support the development of MSMEs which constitute more than 70% of the economic operators and contribute more than 60% of employment in the economy. Gambia also concluded a comprehensive Investment Policy Review with the support of UNCTAD.
4.161. It is gratifying to note that the Gambia is committed to advancing gender equality and youth and women empowerment as well as creating a policy environment to unleash their potential. In this connection, Sierra Leone notes that Gambia is a signatory to the Gender and Trade Declaration which was launched by the Geneva Gender Champions in the margins of MC11.
4.162. The Gambia has ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement and, as stated by the honourable Minister at MC11, remains committed to the multilateral trading system as the best option to foster global trade.
4.163. Inter-regional trade is important to achieve economic integration. It was for this purpose that the 15 Member States of the Economic Community of the West African States on 25 October 2013 adopted the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET). It is pertinent to note that, as a member of ECOWAS, Gambia has adopted the five-CET since 1 January 2017.
4.164. In conclusion, while noting that the Gambia has benefited from funding from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), Sierra Leone calls on developed countries and developing countries, in a position to do so to extend greater aid for trade assistance to the Gambia, including in facilitating the access of women to resources to enable them to increase their contribution and impact to Gambia's development.
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5 REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GAMBIA AND ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
5.1. I wish to thank WTO Members for their valued observations and words of encouragement on The Gambia's trade policy environment and the reforms that have been undertaken since the last trade policy review. Let me assure you of the new Government's commitment to the multilateral trading system and our conviction to reintegrate The Gambia into the international community. As a Government, we believe strongly in multilateralism as it provides transparent and predictable trading system that works for all.
5.2. We have provided written answers to all the advance questions and follow-up questions received. We also appreciate the comments by Members on the need for The Gambia to do more in promoting productive capacity development, improving the business environment and infrastructural development to increase foreign direct investment in the economy as well as to take to advantage of opportunities offered by the regional integration. I also want to thank and appreciate the views of H.E. Ambassador Daniel Blockert for critically looking at the trade policies and the development environment of The Gambia and highlighting areas where we need to work on to support The Gambia's trade development. He clearly highlighted areas where we need improvement and also provided questions in areas that are critical to our development.
5.3. In response, let me assure you that the new Government is working closely with partners to quickly stabilize the economy, and the current economic outlook is really promising. We are aware of the high debt burden we inherited, and the Government is doing everything possible to address it head-on. The Government has introduced tight fiscal discipline to control expenditure. The Government is also working with development partners to formulate a debt sustainability strategy to deal with the debt burden on a sustainable basis.
5.4. In the short-term, the new Government is also implementing reforms to significantly reduce domestic borrowing by ensuring that the Government expenditure is limited within the budget. In the medium-term, the Government reforms include streamlining the civil service to enhance performance; restructuring of the public enterprises and agencies, and improve macroeconomic performance.
5.5. With regard to the state-owned enterprises, current efforts are focused on limiting contingent liabilities and promoting enhanced transparency and improve the financial viability of these enterprises. To restore confidence in the state-owned enterprises, the Government has already completed special audits of five major public enterprises to address leakages, which would go a long way in improving their financial situation. This exercise, which is being supported by the World Bank, is continuing in other public enterprises to enable the Government to carry out a comprehensive reform of the public enterprises to put them on a sound footing. The audits of the five major state-owned enterprises, including the Central Bank, that were most affected provide a solid basis for a resolution of cross arrears between the Government and the state-owned enterprises. In addition, the Government has put in place a mechanism to strengthen oversight functions of these enterprises as well as working on to introduce a State Owned Enterprise Reform Action Plan.
5.6. The proposed three-year State Owned Enterprise Reform Action Plan would improve performance and enhance their contributions to national development in the form of increased contribution to tax revenue, dividend payments, job creation and efficient service delivery.
5.7. On regional integration issues, the implementation of the ECOWAS CET led to significant changes in the tariff structure of The Gambia. Even though The Gambia has limited binding coverage with high average bound rate as alluded to by some Members, the implementation of the CET has significantly enhanced the predictability of the tariff not only for The Gambia but ECOWAS as a whole given that no single ECOWAS member States can unilaterally change any tariff under the CET. This helps in enhancing certainty, predictability and transparency of the tariff for businesses. In addition, its implementation strengthens our participation in regional integration, which is also positive in our effort to deepen the regional integration agenda particularly towards the creation of a customs union. As a small economy, enlarge market enable us to enjoy economies scale and thus attract investment in the economy.
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5.8. However, the implementation of the CET is posing some challenges in the economy in areas of revenue, price hike in some social goods such as rice, cooking oil, flour, cement and few others whose tariffs were much lower than the CET rate. Although 3% exclusion list could address these challenges, this is only applicable in the short run. We therefore call on development partners to support The Gambia and other ECOWAS member States to deal with the challenges of CET implementation by carrying out the necessary economic reforms.
5.9. To facilitate Trade within the region, The Gambia is also participating in the harmonization of ECOWAS Standards within the region as one of the objectives of the Regional Quality Policy. As part of efforts to improve the business environment, the Government is undertaking a tax reform and improvement in energy sector to reduce the cost of doing business and enable enterprises to effectively utilize the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme.
5.10. In addition, we are also working to strengthen our bilateral relationship with the neighbouring countries to facilitate the implementation of the ECOWAS protocols and programme particularly the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme, Inter-State Road Transit and the protocol on free movement of people.
5.11. On the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and West Africa, The Gambia has started the process of signing the EPA. A Cabinet paper will be tabled in the next Cabinet meeting.
5.12. The new Government attaches great importance to investment promotion and private sector participation in the economy particularly in the productive sectors. To demonstrate commitment to these ideals, the Government has commenced the implementation of tax reforms to improve the business environment. An investment policy review has been conducted by UNCTAD in 2017 and the Government is committed to the fully implementation of the recommendations. An Action Plan is already developed and the Government is now seeking assistance from development partners in the implementation plan. We look forward to work with UNCTAD on this and other development partners.
5.13. Improvement in the supply of electricity is also among the priorities of the Government. This has culminated into the development of an energy sector road map to improve efficiency in the supply of energy and enhance the participation of private sector investment in the energy sector.
5.14. To increase private sector confidence in the economy by providing them the necessary to participate in the decision making, the Government, in consultation with the private sector, has created high level political platform called National Business Council, constituting of major business executives, including the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry to be chaired by the Minister of Trade. The Cabinet already endorsed the body created and my Ministry which led the initiative is now working on the inauguration of the Council to commence its work maybe next week.
5.15. On the notification requirements, The Gambia is committed to meeting all its notification obligations under the various WTO Agreements. It is for this reason that we established a National Notification committee in 2013 to work on the back logs of The Gambia's notifications. I am happy to say that we have made progress in this area as indicated in the Secretariat's report. My Ministry, through the notification committee, will continue to work with the relevant sectors to ensure that the notification requirements are fully met. We have had some challenges in the timely preparation of some of the notification relating to quantitative restrictions and did request the WTO Secretariat to assist in developing capacity in this area. We look forward to working with the Secretariat in these areas. In addition, let me also assure you that all WTO Members will be given the opportunity to make comments on our draft trade related technical regulations before they are finalized as required by the TBT and SPS agreements. In this regard, the draft regulation on labelling of pre-packaged food will be notified for comments once its review by the National Technical Regulation Committee is completed.
5.16. The Gambia also continues to strengthen its intellectual property laws. We take note of the interest of some Members for The Gambia to join other WIPO treaties. In this regard, The Gambia has started consultations with WIPO on WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performance and Phonograph Treaty. We are also drafting our intellectual property policy with the support of WIPO
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- 29 - and the final recommendations for joining these additional WIPO treaties is expected when the intellectual property policy is finalized by end February 2018.
5.17. With regards to the TRIPS agreement, The Gambia is committed to the ratification of the Protocol amending the TRIPS agreement. My Ministry has started the initial consultation with the relevant sectors at the national level for the ratification of the Agreement. It is hoped that we will be able to complete these consultations and have the protocol ratified before the end of 2018.
5.18. Let me also thank Members for acknowledging The Gambia's ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The Gambia attaches great importance to the Trade Facilitation Agreement and its effective implementation will no doubt reduce cost of trading in The Gambia. As I have said during our first session, The Gambia has submitted the notifications of its Category A, B and C commitment under the Trade Facilitation Agreement on 23 January 2018. We look forward to working closely with development partners to ensure that the required capacities are developed to support full and effective implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.
5.19. Finally, I want to thank the WTO Members and the Enhanced Integrated Framework for supporting The Gambia since the last Trade Policy Review. The Government of The Gambia will continue to honour its commitment to the multilateral trading system and where it lacks capacity it will continue to seek the support of WTO Members and development partners to strengthen it. The Gambia also continues to seek assistance from development partners to address its supply side constraints, particularly through the Aid-for-Trade Initiative, to enhance its development efforts towards poverty reductions. Our country's trade needs are well articulated in the New National Development Plan which will soon be presented to our development partners as part of resource mobilization for its implementation. I encourage all of you to take time from your busy schedule to participate in the event. We will inform you when the date and venue is agreed.
5.20. Thank you.
DISCUSSANT
5.21. Thank you Chair for giving me the floor again today.
5.22. I spoke at length on Tuesday so I will only make a few quick comments today.
5.23. First of all, I want to thank Dr Isatou Touray, the Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, and her delegation for your commitment during this TPR and the very substantial work that you have put in. Many of the questions that were asked the day before yesterday have been answered and I think that all Member States that have participated in this TPR have learned a lot about the state of The Gambian economy, its trade regime and the Government's ambitions for the future.
5.24. Many issues have been raised and I do not intend to be exhaustive in my final remarks, but I would like to highlight a few things that I will take away from this TPR.
Many Members have recognized the challenges The Gambian Government faces. Some of them are fairly common for many LDCs around the world. Others are more specific for The Gambia and usually related to the economic policies of the previous Government.
Among the challenges that were highlighted were badly needed reforms of state owned enterprises, boosting the private sector, improving the ease of doing business and combatting corruption, reviewing the tax system, the need for investments in the energy sector, the importance of having modern laws in place in areas like IPR and procurement, and measures to increase productivity in the agriculture and fisheries sectors. And as we heard from the Minister in her introduction today, these are issues that the Government is working on.
Many Members have also commended The Gambia for maintaining a relatively open trade and investment regime. With limited exceptions the country is open to investments and imposes relatively few barriers to imports.
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Another issue that caught the attention of Members was the introduction of the ECOWAS CET. This process is likely to be complicated initially but there is great potential in increased regional integration and larger trade flows with neighbouring countries.
Many Members highlighted the fact that The Gambia has ratified the TFA and welcomed that the remaining notifications seem to be in the pipeline. I can just join others in encouraging The Gambia to take advantage of the substantial benefits that the TFA can bring.
As a member of the Geneva Gender Champions and representing a Government that prides itself of being feminist, it is encouraging to see how The Gambia is highlighting the role of women in trade and economic activity. After all one of the few things that basically all economists around the world would agree on is that the economic empowerment of women is always sound economic policy.
5.25. In conclusion, I hope that this TPR has been helpful for The Gambia and for the future work that you are going to do. If so then this TPR has been worthwhile.
5.26. A personal reflection: after going through the reports and reading up on the economic and political situation in The Gambia, I think that it's clear that what this nation needs now more than anything else is stability.
5.27. The new Government seems to have a clear vision of what they want to achieve. I think that most, if not all, of the Members that have commented on the Gambian TPR, would subscribe to the general priorities laid out by this Government. But ambitious reforms require political, financial, and economic stability.
5.28. Since The Gambia is a coastal State, I will conclude by using an old sailor's greeting, and wish that Dr. Touray and her delegation will have fair weather and smooth sailing.
5.29. Thank you.
EUROPEAN UNION
5.30. Let me first express our sincere appreciation to the delegation of The Gambia for the timely replies they have provided to the advance written questions submitted by the EU.
5.31. As acknowledged by several Members on Tuesday, despite the considerable infrastructural challenges, difficult business climate and the need for more economic diversification, The Gambia shows strong commitment to be considered as a credible trade partner within ECOWAS and the WTO.
5.32. With reference to the notification submitted by The Gambia of its Category A, B and C commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the EU would like to recognize the interest and the effort to follow up this matter.
5.33. After a preliminary look at the notification, the EU would like to ask The Gambia whether they could give more information on how they think to implement the Category B measures that are, according to the notification, indicatively scheduled for next month.
5.34. The EU also takes note of the provisions notified as Category C for which The Gambia is seeking assistance and technical support.
5.35. In conclusion, on behalf of the EU, let me again express our appreciation to the delegation of The Gambia for their presence here, their participation in this important exercise and for the contributions presented during this third Trade Policy Review of The Gambia.
UNITED STATES
5.36. The United States would like to sincerely thank the entire delegation of The Gambia for answers to our previously submitted written questions and for the extremely prompt answers to
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- 31 - our follow-up questions which we received this morning. My authorities in Washington look forward to studying everything.
5.37. We also very much appreciated the very thoughtful and constructive work that went into both of the answers and the overall preparation by everyone, including the very professional Secretariat for this Trade Policy Review.
5.38. We also would like to express our special regard to the Honourable Dr. Touray for her statement this morning and Ambassador Blockert for his detailed intellectual angle as our discussant.
5.39. The United States very much appreciates its bilateral relationship with The Gambia and as mentioned on Day 1 of this review, my Government is very pleased to have restored eligibility for preferential tariff treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act at the beginning of this year following democratic elections.
5.40. We followed with very great interest news of economic growth, reforms and challenges faced and how the new Government is dealing with those challenges. We applaud the efforts to improve the business environment, reduce corruption and reduce inefficiencies.
5.41. In addition, we encourage The Gambia to continue improving infrastructure, developing the workforce, diversifying exports and thoughtfully building an attractive situation for increase foreign investment in tourism.
5.42. The United States is very enthusiastic about a number of cooperative projects and partnerships to develop trade, health, security and prosperity.
5.43. As the United States attaches great importance to notifications, we very much appreciate the commitment to notifications expressed in this Trade Policy Review.
5.44. We look forward to continued active and deeper cooperation with the delegation of The Gambia here in Geneva and elsewhere and we are very sure that this Trade Policy Review has been a valuable exercise. Please accept our best regards and our wishes for safe travels to everyone returning to capital.
H.E. DR. ISATOU TOURAY (HEAD OF DELEGATION)
5.45. Thank you very much. I am very appreciative of the efforts that have been put into this TPR regarding The Gambia. On behalf of my delegation, on behalf of His Excellency, the President Adama Barrow, and of the entire people of The Gambia, I want to express appreciation to all of you who have, in one way or another, taken a front seat in supporting The Gambia or a backseat in other ways to encourage us to move forward. And I want to take this opportunity to say that we are open, ready and available for any constructive engagement of any international support or bilateral relationships with regard to moving The Gambia forward. I want to just assure you that we are now sharing a democracy, a democracy that we want the whole world to see as a best practice having emerged from an authoritarian regime for 22 years which resulted in the flight of Gambia's intellectual capital, Gambia's young people. And now we want to reverse all those negative trends and we will be doing everything that we can to show that we can do it and that we can only do it when we work together as a community of nations to move a country that is ready to change the situation that it has inherited from an authoritarian regime. Thank you all for everything that has been done here.
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6 CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON
6.1. This third Trade Policy Review has offered us an excellent opportunity to deepen our understanding of recent developments in The Gambia, and the achievements and challenges related to its trade and investment policies. Also, as was highlighted by several delegations during the review, this exercise has come at an important juncture for The Gambia, after having experienced a historical democratic change in government last year.
6.2. I would like to thank the Gambian delegation, headed by H.E. Dr. Isatou Touray, for the clear and thorough policy statement, and our discussant H.E. Mr. Daniel Blockert (Permanent Representative of Sweden) for his detailed and thoughtful analysis and assessments. I would also like to acknowledge the numerous comments and advance questions from the 19 delegations that took the floor during our deliberations.
6.3. Members noted that the Gambian economy continued to face challenges, but there were encouraging signs that it was stabilizing and that higher growth might take place. Some of the main problems referred to by delegations were high fiscal deficits, the growing public debt, and financially distressed state-owned enterprises. Also, it was considered that high government borrowing combined with tight monetary policy had resulted in high interest rates crowding out private sector development. However, as noted by the Gambian delegation, fiscal consolidation in 2017 had already slowed the growth of debt accumulation and has significantly brought down interest rates. The delegation also added that while real GDP growth averaged 2.9% in the period 2010-16, growth was forecast to reach 3% in 2017.
6.4. Members commended The Gambia for maintaining an open trade and investment regime and welcomed the new government's trade policy outlined by the Gambian delegation during the TPR; its main thrust being building trade capacity, improving competitiveness and promoting private sector development. The business environment is to be further reformed, and some taxes have already been reduced. The corporate income tax rate was cut from 30% to 27% in January 2018. Agriculture and fisheries, industry, transport and energy are seen as critical for development. The delegation also highlighted the importance of empowering women in the Gambian economy, which was welcomed by a number of delegations.
6.5. Members praised The Gambia for a range of reforms undertaken since the last Review. The country has adopted the five-band ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) from 1 January 2017. The average CET (MFN) rate is 12.3%, down from an average rate of 14.1% of the previous customs tariff. None of the CET rates exceeds The Gambia's tariff bindings. However, it was noted that there was a large gap between the country's average bound rate and average applied rates, and only 15% of the tariff lines were bound, rendering the tariff regime less predictable, although in practice the ECOWAS CET regime has reduced the country's discretion in setting tariff rates.
6.6. Members also welcomed that The Gambia had modernized its food safety, TBT, industrial property and government procurement regimes. Reference was also made to the opportunities arising from tourism and logistics. The Gambia was invited to consider acceding to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and several WIPO treaties, and was encouraged to deposit its instrument of acceptance of the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement. The Minister today has shared with us that they have already started consultations with WIPO in acceding to several of the treaties mentioned.
6.7. Some Members felt that there was room for improvement of the business environment, notably by facilitating access to financing, labour market reforms, and increasing effort in enhancing good governance. In their advance questions, some Members sought further clarification with regard to the investment regime, notably with regard to taxation, environmental impact assessment, and remaining restrictions on FDI.
6.8. The Gambian delegation reiterated its commitment to the multilateral trading system and announced, during the TPR meeting, that it had decided to open a trade Mission in Geneva. The delegation also informed Members that all draft trade-related legislation and regulations were reviewed by a National Technical Regulation Committee to ensure consistency with WTO agreements. In this respect, The Gambia was invited to ensure WTO Members had an opportunity to comment on draft regulations affecting trade. Members welcomed that The Gambia's instrument
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- 33 - of acceptance of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) was deposited in July 2017 and were encouraged by the announcement that its TFA notifications were submitted to the WTO in the course of this TPR. It was noted that these notifications would allow donors to identify the needs for assistance. Overall, it was observed that The Gambia had a good track record in notifications, although some notifications were still outstanding.
6.9. The Gambia has provided replies to all of the questions raised by Members. As noted by several Members during the exercise, there is a window of opportunity to expand aid for trade and other development aid to achieve The Gambia's goals to increase its participation in the multilateral trading system and to achieve higher and inclusive growth. The Gambia's own efforts through initiatives such as development plans were considered important to mobilize this assistance. I wish to thank again the Gambian delegation for their commitment to this exercise and to all delegations that participated for their constructive feedback.
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