RESTRICTED  
  
GPA/M/85  
 
13 June 2023  
(23-4029) Page: 1/6 
Committee on Government Procurement  Original: English  
 
MINUTES OF THE AD HOC  FORMAL MEETING OF 17 MAY 2023  
AD HOC  CHAIR: MR CARLOS VANDERLOO (CANADA)  
The Committee agreed for the immediate prior Chair of the Committee, Mr Carlos Vanderloo  of 
Canada, to remotely chair the meeting in its entirety, on an ad hoc  basis. The Chair opened the 
meeting by noting that prior to the meeting delegations had received an Airgram1 setting out the 
proposed agenda. The proposed agenda for the meeting was a s follows:  
1. Adoption of the Committee 's draft decision on Rules of Procedure for the Selection of the 
Chairperson of the WTO Committee on Government Procurement ( GPA/W/349 , 
12/05/2023);  
2. Presentation by the chair candidate(s);  
3. Selection of the Committee 's next chair; and  
4. Other business (if any ). 
No items of other business had been proposed by delegations.  
The Committee adopted  the agenda, as proposed by the Chair.  
1  ADOPTION OF THE COMMITTEE 'S DRAFT DECISION ON RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR THE 
SELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE WTO COMMITTEE ON GOVERN MENT 
PROCUREMENT (GPA/W/349, 12/05/2023)  
1.1.  The Chair recalled that a draft decision had been circulated to the Committee on 12 May 2023 
as document GPA/W/349 , under the title "Draft Rules of Procedure for the Selection of the 
Chairperson of the WTO Committee on Government Procurement ". His understanding was that the 
Rules sought to improve the operation and functioning of the Committee. The Chair then proceeded 
to ask the Committee wh ether the draft decision set out in document GPA/W/349  could be adopted.  
1.2.  The Committee adopted  the Decision on Rules of Procedure for the Selection of the Chairperson 
of the WTO Committee on Government Procurement ("Rules of Procedures").  
1.3.  The representative of Chinese Taipei  thanked the Chai r for chairing the Committee for the last 
time. He welcomed the adoption of the Rules of Procedure, and thanked the proponents, including 
Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, for their collective 
efforts in launchin g the reform of the Committee 's chair selection process as reflected in the newly 
adopted Rules of Procedure. The reform was timely and coincided with the broader reform efforts of 
the World Trade Organization. Chinese Taipei saw many positive elements in the new Rules of 
Procedure. First, the Rules of Procedure included a requirement in paragraph 1 that the selection be 
held on a yearly basis. That gave GPA Parties an opportunity to reflect on the leadership of the chair 
and to refresh the mandate, allowin g the chair to move forward in certain directions. Second, 
paragraphs 2 and 5 required candidates for the chair to present a work plan for managing the 
Committee, which allowed the Parties to review the work previously done and to have clearer 
expectations  about new Committee work in the months to come. Third, paragraph 3 provided that 
the selection should be based on the candidates ' capacity, experience, availability, and competence 
 
1 WTO/AIR/GPA/27 .  GPA/M/85  
 
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  to undertake the attendant responsibilities. Chinese Taipei hoped that th is paragraph would help to 
focus on the merit of the candidate and would prevent unnecessary and unwarranted interference. 
All those new elements in the Rules of Procedure would certainly improve the operation of the 
Committee and would help the Committee e ffectively carry out its duties. Chinese Taipei fully 
supported the reform of the Committee 's chair selection as contained in the adopted Rules of 
Procedure and looked forward to working with Parties under the new Rules of Procedure in the future.  
1.4.  The repr esentative of Japan  expressed his satisfaction in having a formal Committee meeting 
after a nearly two -year pause. He expressed his appreciation for the cooperation of Parties in making 
this happen and thanked the Chair, Mr  Carlos Vanderloo, for joining fr om Ottawa and taking on the 
role of chair at the meeting. Japan considered that the Rules of Procedure were a good start for a 
better functioning of the Committee and for promoting broader reform initiatives. At the same time, 
the Rules of Procedure recall ed the long -established tradition of chairs across the WTO, including 
the Committee, being selected on the basis of their capacity, experience, availability and 
competencies, and serving in a personal capacity. Japan hoped that the Committee could select t he 
next chair based on the newly adopted Rules of Procedures.  
1.5.  The representative of the United States  welcomed the adoption of the Rules of Procedure and 
hoped the Decision would deliver predictability and improved processes on that procedural issue, 
ensur ing the Committee would not have a lapse in its regular meeting cycle in the future. The 
United  States hoped to work with GPA Parties on additional procedural reforms to improve the 
functioning and practices of the Committee, similar to efforts that had be en undertaken in the Council 
for Trade in Goods and across all WTO committees. The United States thought that the Committee 
had made an impressive start.  
1.6.  The representative of Norway  thanked Canada, the European Union, Japan, the 
United  Kingdom, and the Un ited States for proposing the draft Rules of Procedure, and for all the 
efforts they had put in the process leading up to the proposal. Norway thanked other interested 
Parties for their engagement and flexibility and the Chair, Mr Vanderloo, for his willin gness to chair 
the ad hoc  formal meeting of the Committee. Norway believed the adopted Rules of Procedure would 
help clarifying and streamlining the functioning of the Committee then and in the future after close 
to two years without being able to meet.  
1.7.  The representative of Hong Kong, China  expressed gratitude to the Chair for convening the 
meeting remotely and extended appreciation to Canada, the European Union, Japan, the 
United  Kingdom, and the United States for the formulation of the Rules of Procedure . The Rules of 
Procedure would serve as a clear basis for the selection of the chair and, if necessary, the interim 
chair through consensus. The Rules were conducive to advancing the work of the Committee. 
Decision -making by consensus had all along been on e of the fundamental principles of the World 
Trade Organization. Hong Kong, China firmly believed that all views should be respected, and that 
the opinions of the minority should not be disregarded when they differed from the majority 's 
opinions. Hong Kong , China was pleased that the Rules of Procedure had been agreed on by the 
Parties by consensus.   
1.8.  The Chair congratulated the Parties on reaching agreement on this Decision and welcomed this 
positive step. He instructed the Secretariat to circulate the ado pted Committee Decision as a 
document in the GPA/CD  series as soon as possible.2 
2  PRESENTATION BY THE CHAIR CANDIDATE(S)  
2.1.  The Chair introduced the second agenda item – the presentation by the chair candidate(s) of 
a proposed plan for the period during which they would chair the Committee.  
2.2.  For the purposes of transparency and bearing in mind that some time had passed since the 
Committee last engaged on the chair selection issue, the Chair briefly recalled the process leading 
up to the meeting. In January 2021, the Committee had initiated the process for selecting its next 
chair, and Parties were invited to submit any nominations. In February 2021, the Chair had informed 
the Parties that two nomin ations had been submitted by Parties, one by the European Union and the 
other by Chinese Taipei. The Chair had encouraged the Parties to identify the next chair through 
 
2 Subsequently circulated as GPA/CD/3 . GPA/M/85  
 
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  bilateral consultations, and to facilitate the process, he had organized informal consu ltative meetings 
with Parties. In May 2021, a communication had been  circulated to all Parties to report back on the 
results of these informal consultative meetings. In May 2021, the European Union, on its own 
initiative, had withdr awn its candidate from t he chair selection process. Shortly thereafter, the Chair 
had organized an informal consultative meeting with Parties to discuss whether the Committee would 
be in a position to confirm the only remaining candidate as the Committee 's next chair.  
2.3.  It had become clear during the consultative meetings that one Party was unable to join the 
consensus on the remaining candidate. Further discussions on the issue of the selection of the next 
chair took place at the Committee 's meetings held in June3 and July4, before the Chair stepped down, 
and in October 2021.5 At the invitation of the Parties, he had chaired the October meeting on an 
ad hoc basis. Related discussions had also taken place at General Council meetings held in July and 
October 2021. In the  course of those meetings, Parties had continued to be unable to reach a 
consensus on the Committee 's next chair. The Chair 's understanding was that further informal 
consultations had been  held among Parties, and that one new candidate for chair had been i dentified 
– Mr Martin Zbinden from Switzerland. As foreseen in the agenda, and drawing inspiration from the 
adopted Rules of Procedure, the Chair gave Mr Zbinden an opportunity to present his proposed plan 
for his upcoming period of chairing the Committee.   
2.4.  Mr Zbinden  presented his proposed goals and aspirations for the Committee for the period 
when he would possibly be chairing the Committee. He believed that notwithstanding the recent 
period of inactivity and uncertainty, it could be a significant year fo r the Committee, and important 
progress could be achieved on various aspects of the Committee 's work. In this context, he had 
identified a number of areas that the Committee might wish to consider making progress on. 
Delegates ' feedback on all those items would be most welcome, and all suggestions would be subject 
to the Committee 's evolving interests and relevant constraints.  
• First, he hoped that the Committee would continue to make good progress on pending and 
future accessions to the Agreement. In particular, he hoped that the Committee would 
officially conclude the accession of North Macedonia as promptly as possible in the coming 
weeks, and that all opportunities would be seized to move other accession processes forward. 
He also encouraged the Committee, the Parties and the Secretariat to continue promoting the 
Agreement in various regions of the world, including by raising interest in observership.  
• As a second broad area of interest, he trusted that the Committee would continue to advance 
its various agreed Work Programmes and look for options to conclude one or more of those 
Programmes.  
• Third, regarding matters related to  the administration and operation of the Agreement, he 
hoped that delegations would continue to give due consideration to possible ways of enhancing 
information -sharing and transparency in the Committee, including through (i) resuming the 
good work already  undertaken towards organizing thematic workshops to exchange views and 
experiences on government procurement -related issues; and (ii) looking for options to adopt 
relevant draft decisions under consideration by the Committee concerning the circulation and  
derestriction of GPA -related documents. Also, the Committee could turn its attention to one 
or more review requirements that were built into the GPA 2012.  
• Fourth, given the importance for transparency of notifications under the GPA, he encouraged 
delegat ions to explore ways to enhance the usefulness of GPA notifications as well as the 
timeliness of their submission to the Committee.  
• Finally, Mr Zbinden expressed his hope that the Committee would undertake an effort to 
explore and assess, in the context o f the ongoing WTO reform debate around strengthening 
the work of multilateral WTO bodies and committees, whether and how similar work could be 
conducted in the Committee or whether there were opportunities to learn and benefit from 
the WTO reform work cond ucted in other WTO bodies.  
 
3 GPA/M/83 . 
4 GPA/M/84 . 
5 WT/GC/M/193 , paras 12.1 -12.40.  GPA/M/85  
 
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  3  SELECTION OF THE COMMITTEE 'S NEXT CHAIR  
3.1.  The Chair 's understanding was that a consensus existed in favour of selecting 
Mr Martin  Zbinden of Switzerland as the Committee 's next Chair. The Chair asked whether the 
Committee agreed to  select Mr Zbinden as its new Chair until the end of the first regular meeting of 
the Committee in 2024, with effect from the conclusion of the ad hoc  formal meeting. The Committee 
selected Mr Martin Zbinden of Switzerland as its next Chair. The Chair exte nded his warmest 
congratulations to Mr Martin Zbinden on his selection.  
3.2.  Mr Zbinden  thanked the Chair. He was pleased to have been conferred the task and was most 
grateful to all delegations for their support and confidence. He would make every effort to h elp the 
Committee advance its important work and was looking forward to working with all delegations 
towards achieving progress and results within the Committee. In this regard, his understanding was 
that the Committee was expected to promptly adopt its de cision on the terms of North Macedonia 's 
accession to the GPA 2012. With that in mind, he proposed to convene a formal meeting and informal 
sessions, as appropriate, on 7 June 2023. As customary, he would make himself available for 
consultations on 5 and 6  June 2023 and would promptly send out a communication in this regard.  
3.3.  The representative of the European Union  appreciated that the immediately prior Chair, 
Mr Carlos  Vanderloo, had come back to Geneva, even if virtually, to oversee and facilitate the ch ange 
of the chair. He very much welcomed the new Rules of Procedure, which he saw as an important 
step and as part of the reform efforts towards better functioning of the Committee, especially the 
selection of the chair in the future. He would keep the Com mittee informed as to the finalization of 
the European Union 's own internal procedures. Continuing, he welcomed the newly selected Chair, 
Mr Martin Zbinden of Switzerland and wished him all the success in his task. The European Union 
looked forward to work ing with him and other GPA Parties towards achieving the objectives outlined 
in his presentation. The European Union also thanked Chinese  Taipei for its flexibility and 
pragmatism, which had allowed the Committee to select a new chair and to resume the wor k of the 
Committee after almost two years without meetings.  
3.4.  The representative of the United States  welcomed Mr Martin Zbinden  of Switzerland as the next 
Chair of the Committee. He looked forward to working with him and advancing the important work 
of the Committee. It was regrettable that the Committee had not been able to hold a formal meeting 
in almost two years due to an impa sse in the previous chair selection process. The United  States 
expressed its gratitude to the qualified candidate from Chinese Taipei for stepping forward during 
that process and reminded Parties that the process had been run with integrity, inclusiveness and 
transparency, and had been based only on the merits and qualifications of the candidates. The 
interference of a non -GPA party in the previous chair selection process was unprecedented and 
unconstructive. The United States looked forward to working with  all the GPA  Parties as they moved 
forward with the important work of the Committee and thanked the former Chair, Mr Carlos 
Vanderloo, for facilitating the meeting.  
3.5.  The representative of Chinese Taipei  congratulated Mr Martin Zbinden for his selection as t he 
Committee 's new Chair, the process of which was based on the newly adopted Rules of Procedure. 
He looked forward to working with him in the coming year. Chinese Taipei expressed its deep regret 
about the previous round of chair selection process conduct ed based on the previous Committee 
practice, in which a groundless and unjustifiable boycott and blocking of the consensus had taken 
place by a GPA Party and indirectly by a non -GPA Member against its candidate, who had received 
an absolute majority of sup port from the GPA Parties. Such boycott not only had severely affected 
its legitimate rights and interests as a GPA Party, but also had resulted in the Committee not being 
able to properly operate for nearly two years. The selection of the Committee 's chair should be based 
on candidates ' professional competence and their merits. Such unjustifiable boycotts could set a 
negative example and could undesirably encourage other WTO Members to do the same. Chinese 
Taipei strongly condemned such an unjustifiable ac t. Chinese Taipei hoped that under the new Rules 
of Procedure, appropriate Committee chairs would always be smoothly selected in the future and 
that their selection would be based solely on their experience and professional competence, as 
required by parag raph 3 of the new Rules of Procedure.  
3.6.  The representative of Switzerland  congratulated Mr Martin Zbinden for his selection as new 
Chair of the Committee and wished him the very best in his endeavours as chair. Switzerland thanked 
all the GPA Parties involve d in the discussions for finding a solution regarding the Rules of Procedure 
and the chair  selection  itself, and Mr Carlos Vanderloo, as the immediate prior Chair of the GPA/M/85  
 
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  Committee, for his availability. As other GPA Parties, Switzerland regretted the impas se that had 
prevailed over the appointment of the Committee 's chair in the last two years and welcomed very 
much the new "restart " of the work of the Committee in its "traditional " format. Switzerland looked 
forward to working together with the new Chair a s well as with other delegations to advance the 
work of the Committee and to achieve positive outcomes in the different areas the new Chair had 
referred to in the work plan.  
3.7.  The representative of Japan  congratulated Mr Martin Zbinden on his appointment as Chair of 
the Committee. Japan supported his plans for the period during which he would chair the Committee 
and stood ready to work closely with him. Japan also expressed its appreciation to Chinese Taipei 
for presenting a very able and excellent candidate for the chair and expressed its deep regret for 
what had happened in the Committee for the past two years. The selection of the candidate who 
had gained the support of the vast majority of the Parties had been blocked without any reasonable 
grounds for blo cking the consensus being provided. This had prevented the Committee from being 
able to function for a long time. The World Trade Organization had a long -established tradition of 
upholding chairs' impartiality and Japan understood that the chair was functi oning on an individual 
basis, apart from the Parties ' positions. Japan hoped that this tradition would continue. The 
GPA Parties had important issues to discuss, including North Macedonia 's accession, and Japan 
looked forward to having the next regular mee ting to deal with the relevant GPA matters at the 
earliest possible time.  
3.8.  The representative of Hong Kong, China  congratulated Mr Martin Zbinden for his selection as 
the new Chair. He was looking forward to working closely with Mr Zbinden to advance the w ork of 
the Committee and took the opportunity to clarify a few points. The Committee had not been able 
to meet over the past years as no consensus had been reached in the chair selection exercise. In 
this regard, he thanked the Secretariat for continuing t o maintain certain key operational matters of 
the Committee in the interim. He reiterated that Hong Kong, China 's position on the selection of the 
chair was premised upon the broader interests of the World Trade Organization. Hong Kong, China 
had not suppo rted the previous candidate because it believed it would not have been conducive to 
advancing the work of the Committee. In the spirit of constructive engagement, Hong Kong, China 
had presented interim solutions with a view to resolving the impasse and ena bling the Committee 
to resume its function. Unfortunately, its suggestions were dismissed without much deliberation. 
Hong Kong, China had respected the Parties ' decision as no consensus had been reached.    
3.9.  As Hong Kong, China had consistently maintained, it upheld the WTO 's core value of making 
decisions by consensus. It strongly believed that even minority views should be respected, and that 
consensus building was key to finding solutions. Hong Kong, China was pleased to see that the issue 
could be satisfactorily resolved in the spirit of consensus building. It applauded the efforts of all the 
Parties in this regard and the achieved outcome. Hong Kong, China hoped that with the adoption of 
the Rules of Procedure, and the appointment of the new Chair in accordance with these Rules, the 
Committee would soon return to normal business and all Parties would work together constructively 
to advance the work of the Committee.  
3.10.  The representative of the Republic of Korea  thanked Mr Carlos Vanderloo for t aking a role in 
the ad hoc Committee meeting to break the impasse and to resume the normal functioning of the 
Committee. He appreciated Chinese Taipei 's flexibility and cooperation in moving the process 
forward. Korea also welcomed the Rules of Procedure p roposed by the European Union, Japan, the 
United Kingdom and the United States. Korea congratulated Mr Martin Zbinden on his appointment 
as new Chair of the Committee and looked forward to working collaboratively with him and 
colleagues in the Committee in  the future.  
3.11.  The representative of Australia  thanked Mr Carlos Vanderloo for agreeing to return to chair 
the meeting. Australia welcomed the adoption of the new Rules of Procedure and joined others in 
congratulating Mr Martin Zbinden on his appointment as  Chair. It had indeed been regrettable that 
the Committee had not been able to meet for nearly two years. Australia thanked Chinese Taipei for 
the flexibility it had shown, which had allowed to resume the operation of the Committee, and it 
looked forward t o working with the new Chair and all Members on the priorities that had been 
highlighted.  
3.12.  The representative of Norway  warmly congratulated Mr Zbinden for his election as Chair of 
the Committee and thanked him for the presentation of his goals and aspirati ons for the period he GPA/M/85  
 
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  would chair the Committee. Norway was very much aligned with those and looked forward to working 
with the new Chair.  
3.13.  The representative of Singapore  thanked Mr Carlos Vanderloo for remotely chairing the 
meeting. Singapore welcomed the  pragmatic resolution of the chair impasse and congratulated 
Mr Martin Zbinden for his appointment. Singapore would strongly support the Chair to advance the 
critical work of the Committee, including the accessions of prospective Parties, particularly 
North Macedonia 's, as outlined by the new Chair earlier.  
3.14.  The representative of the United Kingdom  thanked Mr Carlos Vanderloo for expertly chairing 
the meeting. She regretted the impasse that the Committee had faced over the last two years. She  
thanked the d elegation of Chinese Taipei, including their very well qualified previous chair candidate, 
for their significant flexibility as demonstrated that day. Looking ahead, the United Kingdom also 
welcomed the new Chair and thanked the Secretariat for its continu ing work in support of the 
Committee. The United Kingdom also welcomed the new Rules of Procedure as within the broader 
efforts to improve the functioning of WTO committees at large. On substantive business, as a fairly 
recently acceded Party, the United K ingdom looked forward to working with the Chair, the 
Secretariat, and all Parties across the range of issues including those identified by the new Chair in 
his presentation, from accessions to the Work Programmes.  
3.15.  The representative of New Zealand  congrat ulated Mr Martin Zbinden for his appointment as 
the Chair of the Committee, and warmly welcomed the adoption of the new Rules of Procedure.  He 
expressed regret for the procedural blockage to the appointment of the prior sole candidate, which 
had been deepl y concerning for him as for many colleagues. He added that he would also be 
comfortable if the timing of the 7 June meeting were to slip as that would help to ensure 
capital -representation at that important meeting.  He certainly welcomed the development an d 
looked forward to recommencing the important work of the Committee as soon as possible.  
3.16.  The representative of Israel  thanked all the Parties for their flexibility and the progress they 
had managed to make to be able to reach an understanding for moving forward and adopting the 
new Rules of Procedure and the subsequent appointment of the new Chair. She congratulated 
Mr Martin  Zbinden on his appointment as Chair and looked forward to commencing the work of the 
Committee.  
3.17.  The representative of the Republic of Moldova  thanked the immediately prior Chair, 
Mr Carlos  Vanderloo, for accepting the Parties ' invitation to chair the ad hoc  meeting. She thanked 
the European Union, the United  States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan for having requested 
the circula tion of the Rules of Procedure, for making possible their adoption as well as for making 
possible the end of that long saga. Moldova extended warm congratulations to Mr Martin Zbinden 
for his selection as Chair of the Committee and thanked the Secretariat for its good work during 
these two years despite the absence of a chair. Moldova was looking forward to working with the 
new Chair and looking forward to a constructive and active engagement within the Committee.   
3.18.  The representative of Canada  echoed the s tatements already made in welcoming the 
Committee 's adoption of the Rules of Procedure. She extended a warm welcome to the new Chair, 
Mr Martin Zbinden. Canada looked forward to working with him in his new role as Chair to advance 
the very important work o f the Committee, including the work that he had outlined in his 
intervention.  
3.19.  The Chair reminded the Parties that the newly selected Chair would be in touch very soon 
regarding the next regular Committee meeting. He wished everyone and the Committee the ve ry 
best and a productive year ahead, including on the accessions front. He hoped that the Committee 
would be able to make up for some of the period of inactivity that had occurred.  
4  OTHER BUSINESS  
4.1.  There were no items of other business.  
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