Don't forget logistics, WTO says; report provides policy-makers with arguments for smoothing the movement of goods.(Trade Policy)(World Trade Organization)

Eliminating trade barriers doesn't do much good unless a nation's transportation and logistics networks can allow goods to be moved. That's what the World Trade Organization says in its "World Trade Report 2004," a document aimed at government policymakers in its 147 member countries.

The report by the WTO--often viewed as hostile to multinational corporations--urges the organization's members to modernize transportation infrastructure, and deregulate access to logistics and transportation services.

Using a wide range of earlier research about the impact of transportation infrastructure on international trade, the WTO shows that while worldwide tariff rates have already been lowered, …