. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG34/M/1
WT/REG35/M/1WT/REG37/M/1
17 June 1999
(99-2453)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Twenty-Second Session
EXAMINATION OF THE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN
SLOVENIA AND ESTONIA;  SLOVENIA AND LATVIA;
AND SLOVENIA AND LITHUANIA
Note on the Meeting of 4 May 1999
Chairman: Mr. A. Stoler (USA)
1. This meeting was convened  in document WTO/AIR/1063.
2. Under Agenda Items D.XIII-XV, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA)
took up the examinations of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between Slovenia and Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania, respectively.
3. The Chairman directed the Committee to Agenda Items D.X III-XV concerning the
examination of the FTAs between Slovenia and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, respectively.  These
three Agreements were first examined during the Committee's Twentieth Session in November 1998
under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Carlos Pérez del Castillo and the minutes of that meeting had
been distributed as document WT/REG/GEN/M/3.  He said that the current meeting was the second
round in the examination of these Agreements and proposed that the Committee examine these
Agreements as one group using the Standard Format as a guideline.  This would have no affect on the
examination per se  as each Agreement would be judged on its own merit and would have its own
report and its own conclusions.  He suggested that the Members indicate whether their questions
related to a specific Agreement or to the group as a whole.  He intended to organize the examinations
in the following manner: the discussion would begi n with general comments from the representative
of Slovenia and from other Members of the Committee; then the Committee would deal with specific
elements of the Agreements.  He noted that the representative of Slovenia would be answering
questions for the delegations of Estonia and Lithuania, as they were not yet WTO Members; Latviahad become a Member since the last round of examinations and might like to take the floor during this
examination.  Following the last round of examinations, the Parties had submitted written replies to
questions which had recently been distribute d as documents WT/REG37/4, WT/REG34/4 and
WT/REG35/4, respectively.  He suggested that the Committee follow the structure of the Standard
Format for the FTAs between Slovenia and Estoni a, Latvia and Lithuania, as found in documents
WT/REG37/3, WT/REG34/3 and WT/REG35/3, respectively.
4. The representative of Slovenia stated that his delegation had received written questions from
Australia and other Members; these questions had received full replies.  He hoped that the statistical
information that had been provided would be usefule for the examination, and added that his
delegation would reflect on oral questions that had been posed by Canada.  When the Agreementswere examined, it would be found that the trade was small and took place only in a limited number of
products.  Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were all small countries, and the Agreements
reflected their trade interests.  It was evident that the Agreements did not deal with products that these
countries did not produce, as demonstrated by the data provided.  The transition period in theWT/REG34/M/1
WT/REG35/M/1
WT/REG37/M/1
Page 2
Agreement with Lithuania had ended on 1 Januar y 1999 and duties on all industrial products were
zero.  In the case of Agreements with Latvia and Estonia, duties on industrial products were already
zero at the time the transition period was applied.
5. The representative of Australia welcomed the responses provided by the Parties which were
now being reviewed.  The Agreements themselves were still being considered by his authorities and
his delegation might have further questions in the future.
6. The representative of the United States praised the completeness of statistical information that
had been submitted by the Parties.  He said that the information included data that had been requested
but not received from other Members.
7. The representative of Slovenia added that the coverage of the trade between the Parties was
practically 100 per cent.
8. The Chairman said that the Committee had had an interesting second round of examination
over the FTAs between Slovenia and the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  He
suggested the Members with outstanding questions submit them in writing to the Secretariat not later
that 17 May 1999; this would allow the Parties enough time to submit replies in advance of the nextsession.
9. The Committee took note of the comments made.
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