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WT/REG/M/101  
 
2 November  2021 
(21-8339) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Hundredth  and First Session    
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 1 NOVEMBER  2021  
Ambassador H.E. Dr. Cleopa Kilonzo MAILU (Kenya)  
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1.1.  The 101st Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA " or the 
"Committee ") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/ 26 dated 20 September  2021. 
1.2.  The Chairman  welcomed delegations to the to the 10 1st Session of the CRTA . He was  happy to 
see many colleagues in the room given the relaxation of various safety measures taken by the WTO 
Health Task Force. He recalled that,  for the time being , the meeting was still  subject to a hybrid 
approach, with some Members in the room and others  connecting remotely through Interprefy .  
1.3.  The Chairman referred to Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/26 dated 20 September 2021, which 
contained the Agenda for the Session of the CRTA and the note regarding "Organizational and 
Technical Arrangements" for the meeting.  He drew delegates' attention to a few practical points for 
the smooth conduct of the meeting.  
1.4.  With respect to Agenda item E "Other Business", he wished to inform Members about  the 
technical assistance activities conducted by the Secretariat on RTAs in 2021 a nd those planned for 
2022; and the proposed schedule for CRTA meetings for 2022.  
1.5.  The Committee  accordingly adopted  the following  Agenda:  
 Adoption of the Agenda  
 
 Implementation of the RTA Transparency Mechanism  
I. Early Announcements  
II. Notifications of Regional Trade Agreements  
III. Notification of changes to existing RTAs  
IV. Non-notified RTAs  
V. Status on the Preparation of Factual Presentations  
 
 Consideration of Regional Trade Agreement s 
I. Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Vietnam, goods and 
services  
II. Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada 
(USMCA/CUSMA/T -MEC), goods and services  
III. Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Indonesia and 
Australia, goo ds and services  
 
 Adoption of the Annual Report (2021) of the CRTA to the General Council  
 Other business  
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  B IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RTA TRANSPARENCY MECHANISM  
1.6.  As was usual practice, the Chairman  provided an update of the Committee's work and the 
implementation of the Transparency Mechanism.  He clarified that in order to reflect the Committee's 
work these had been divided into five separate elements that would  be tak en up  in accordance with 
the ai rgram . 
B.I  Early announcements  
1.7.  The Chairman  indicated that a  total of 36 early announcements were currently on the WTO 
website (not counting those which ha d been subsequently notified). The latest early announcement 
received was for the FTA between Canada and MERCOSUR. He thank ed Members wh ich had 
submitted information in line with the requirements of the Transparency Mechanism and encourage d 
others to do so. He reminded  Members to inform  the Secretariat of any changes in the status of 
early announcements.  
B.II Notifications of regional trade agreements  
1.8.  The Chairman  indicated that 3 notification s had been received since the circulation of the 
Airgram  of the 100th Session of the CRTA held o n 21 June  2021 and had thus been included in the 
Airgram  for the Session. Following a request made at the last session, the Chairman open ed the 
floor separately for each Agreement.  
a) ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), goods (WT/REG457/N/1) . 
1.9.  The representative of the United States  thanked the Parties to the Agreement for the 
notification and for participating in th e very valuable transparency exercise.  
b) Trade Continuity Agreement between the United Kingdom and Mexico, goods and 
services (W T/REG456/N/1 -S/C/N/1060) . 
1.10.  The representative of the United States  thanked the United Kingdom and Mexico for the 
notification and for participating in th e very valuable transparency exercise.  
c) Agreement on Trade Continuity between the United Kingdom and Canada, goods and 
services  (WT/REG419/N/1/Add.1 -S/C/N/1061).  
1.11.  The representative of the United States  thanked the United Kingdom and Canada for the 
notification and for participating in th e very valuable transparency exercise.   
B.III  Notifications of c hang es to existing RTAs  
1.12.  The Chairman  stated that since the last meeting one notification of changes to existing RTAs  
had been received  concerning the ATIGA, goods (document WT/REG457/N/1/Add.1).  
B.IV Non-notified RTAs  
1.13.  The Chairman  stated that an updated list of non -notified RTAs had been circulated on 
25 October 2021 as WT/REG/W/162 and contained 56 RTAs issued in factual presentations up to 
25 October  2021. Compared to the list issued before the previous CRTA in June 2021 
(WT/REG/ W/159), no RTA had been removed from the list and one  had been added, namely Israel -
Colombia, goods and services .  
B.V Status on the preparation of Factual Presentations  
1.14.  The Chairman  informed the Committee that as regards the preparation of the factual 
presentations under the remit of the CRTA – in the case of RTAs involving WTO Members only – 
there were currently 69 RTAs for which a factual presentation had to be prepared, counting g oods 
and services separately.  WT/REG/M/101  
 
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  1.15.  Factual presentations on a further 34 RTAs involving non -members were to be prepared, 
counting goods and services separately, as previously agreed by the Committee. The factual 
presentations for six other  services agreements were on hold, pending the negotiation of services 
commitments. Of th ese, one involved non -members.  
1.16.  The Chairman recalled that he had held consultations with delegations regarding the backlog 
of factual presentations due to the late  receipt of data necessar y for their preparation and also 
comments on draft factual presentations. He hoped that delegations would provide the missing  
information as soon as possible. An updated list of all such RTAs had been recently circulated as 
document WT/REG/W/ 163, dated 26 October 2021.  
1.17.  As was customary, he invited a representative of the Secretariat to provide additional 
information on the status of the preparation of factual presentations.  
1.18.  With regard to agreements among Members, the representative of the Secretariat  stated that 
for GCC-Singapore ( services ) the factual presentation  would  soon be circulated to Members. For 
EU-Central America ( goods and services ) the factual presentation had  been drafted and would  be 
sent shortly to the Parties for comments.  For EU -Papua New Guinea , Fiji, ( goods ) no data had been 
received from Papua New Guinea  and Fiji. With regard to the accession to this agreement by Samoa 
and the Solomon Islands, data had been received. For ECO WAS ( goods ), some data had been 
received from Togo, Niger , Senegal , and Benin; no data had been received from the other Parties. 
For Namibia -Zimbabwe ( goods ), the Secretariat  had received data and it would  be drafting the 
factual presentation shortly. For Korea -Central America ( goods and services ) the Secretariat was  
still awaiting data from some Central American Parties but had started to draft the factual 
presentation, nevertheless . For China -Mauritius the factual presentation had  been drafted and would  
be shortly sent to the Parties for comments. For ASEAN -Hong Kong, China , the Secretariat  was 
awaiting data from ASEAN . For the GCC ( goods ), the Secretariat was  awaiting responses to Members' 
questions.  
1.19.  With regard to  the notifications involving the United Kingd om, the representative of the 
Secretariat  stated that, f or UK -Singapore, UK -Turkey and UK -Jordan , all 3 factual presentations had 
been sent to the Parties for comments.  The following factual presentations were  being drafted: 
EU-UK (goods and services ), UK -Chile ( goods and services ), UK -Canada ( goods and services ), 
UK-Israel ( goods ), UK -Kenya ( goods ), and UK -Switzerland and Liechtenstein ( goods ). The 
Secretariat  also had received data from a number of Parties and drafting would  start on UK 
agreements with Japan, Korea, Mexico, Viet Nam, Georgia, and Albania ( goods and services ), and 
with Ukraine and North Macedonia ( goods ).  For the remaining agreements involving the UK the 
Secretariat was  still awaiting data or fu rther clarifications from the non -UK parties.  
1.20.  As regards agreements involving non -members, fo r the CIS Agreement ( goods ) some 
comments had been received. For the EAEU -Iran Agreement ( goods ), the deadline for data 
submission had been  22 June 2020; no data had been received. For the following agreements data 
was not complete: EFTA -Lebanon, Turkey -Syria, Ukraine Azerbaijan, Ukraine -Turkmenistan, and the 
Russian Federation -Turkmenistan. For the accession of the Comoros to the EU -ESA Agreement , data 
had been  due on 30 March 2021; the Secretariat had  received data fr om the EU.  For UK -Faeroe 
Islands, UK -Lebanon, and UK -Cariforum, data had been  due on 5 May 2021. For UK -Palestine data 
had been  due on 10 May 2021. For UK -Kosovo data had been  due on 12 May 2021. The Secretariat 
was still awaiting most of the data for thes e agreements.  
C. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
ITEM C.I 
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement  were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 406/M/1)  
 
ITEM C.II 
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement  were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 407/M/1)  
 WT/REG/M/101  
 
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  ITEM C.III 
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement  were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 446/M/1)  
 
D. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT (2021) OF THE CRTA TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
1.21.  The Chairman  stated that the draft annual report had been distributed in document 
WT/REG/W/161, dated 11 October 2021. He recalled that the deadline of 22  October had been set 
for comments and that none had been received.  
1.22.  The Committee  adopted the Annual Report (2021) of the CRTA to the General Council.  
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
1.23.  The Chairman  recalled that, o n technical cooperatio n activities, it had been  agreed at the 
Committee's 32nd Session to regularly review them at the last meeting of the year. He invited t he 
Secretariat to give an account of activities carried out in 2021 and those that were planned for 2022. 
Details were available in room document RD/RTA/56.  
1.24.  The representative of the Secretariat  informed the Committee that , as it could be seen from 
the table that had been  made available electronically with the documents for the meeting 
(document  RD/RTA/56), the CRTA Secretariat, like the rest of the WTO Secretariat had been  unable 
to provide much face -to-face technical assistance during 2021 due to the ongoing health pandem ic. 
She confirmed that the Secretariat had continued to participate in the regular online courses of the 
WTO and  had also provided training for national seminars as requested.  
1.25.  For 2022, while it was difficult to anticipate what type of RTA -related technica l cooperation 
activities would  take place the Secretariat remain ed committed to adjusting to the evolving 
environment and delivering its mandate in the most appropriate way and to the highest possible 
standards. To date , the Secretariat  had not received an y national requests for any specialized 
activities on the topic of RTAs for 2022.  
1.26.  The Secretariat expect ed that, as COVID -related limitations were progressively lifted in 2022, 
it would  be possible to hold face -to-face activities in Geneva, such as the advanced specialized course 
on RTAs as well as the ITPCs, ATPCs and RTPCs as indicated in the note.  
1.27.  The Secretariat would  also continue to offer a specialized course on RTAs through its 
e-learning platform. Should COVID restrictions be extended, alternative TA activities would  be 
developed.  
1.28.  The Chairman  informed the Committee of that the next CRTA meeting was scheduled for 
28-29 March, subject to the availability of the incoming Chair. Exac t dates would  be communicated 
when available.   
1.29.  The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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