INF/MSME/CN /1 
14 June 2019 
(19-4090) Page: 1/3 
 Original:  English  
 
  
INFORMAL WORKING GRO UP ON MSMES  
CONVENING NOTICE  
The following communication , dated 14 June 2019 , is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Uruguay, Coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs . 
 
_______________  
 
 
The Informal Working Group on MSMEs will hold its next  regular meeting on 28 June 2019, 
starting at 10 a.m. The meeting will take place in room CR2. 
 
The following items are proposed for the agenda:  
 
1  THEMATIC WORK  
A. Transparency Cluster  
(i) MSME -related information in TPRs 
• Follow -up on the 22 February discussion on improving coverage of MSME -related 
information in TPRs (document forthcoming) . Documents discussed in February: 
INF/MSME/W/1/Rev.2, and INF/MSME/W/2 and 2/Corr.1.  
(ii) MSMEs platform proposal  
• Proposal by Guatemala, Mexico , and Uruguay ( INF/MSME/W/3 /Rev.1 ). 
(iii) Access to information : Global Trade Helpdesk  
• Briefing by the ITC and Sw itzerland on latest developments related to the Global 
Trade Helpdesk.  
(iv) Other issues  
• Members will be invited to flag other trans parency issues that the Group  may wis h to 
address in the future.  
B. Thematic Cluster  
(i) Trade finance  
• Update on lates t developments  and discussion on  the way forward.  
(ii) Trade facilitation  
• Report on discussions of the 2 7 June workshop.  
• Presentation by the OECD of their SME and trade facilitation research note 
(TAD/TC/WP (2018)24 ). 
• Discussion of the de minimis  note prepare d by the Secretariat at the request of the 
Group (INF/MSME/W/4 ). 
(iii) Other issues  
• Discussion of the n ote prepared by the Secretariat at the request of the Group on 
MSME -related language in RTAs  (document forthcoming) . INF/MSME/CN /1 
- 2 - 
  C. Analytical tools cluster  
• Follow -up to the presentation made by the OECD at the 2 2 February  2019 meeting on 
the Trade in Value -Added (TiVA) database and projects to mainstream key 
characteristics of firms (such as multinationals, MSMEs, exporters etc.) in the 
production of future T iVA models : Members of the Group will be invited to explore 
what the Group could do to improve collection of data on MSME 's participation in 
international trade . 
D. Conceptual cluster  
• Follow -up discussion on Canada's presentation at the 2 2 February  2019 me eting on 
Canada 's small business lens  principle  and d iscussion of the note on the OECD report 
on Good Regulatory Practices to support SMEs in South East Asia (INF/MSME/W/5 ). 
Members of the Group will be invited to discuss what suggestions or proposals could 
be developed in this respect.  
2  REVIEW OF OUTREACH ACTIVITIES  
A. Outreach to  other Members  
• Review of outreach to other Members and discussion of the way forward.  
B. Outreach to  other organizations  
• Review of outreach to other organizations and discussion of the way forward.  
• Presentations by:  
• The OECD on the work of the OECD Working Group on SMEs and 
Entrepreneurship.  
• The ITU on the ITU Telecom World Conference that will take place in 
September  2019 in Budapest, and their SME pr ogramme.  
• The GTPA on their white paper on capacity building and standards development 
for inclusive trade, which touches upon MSME issues  (circulated separately by 
email) . 
C. Outreach to the private sector  
• Briefing by the Coordinator on : (i) the meeting wi th Chambers of commerce that took 
place on the fringes of the Rio World Chambers Congress, and (ii)  the launch of the 
MSME Ideas Exchange platform.  
3  REVIEW OF MSME -RELATED DISCUSSIONS IN WTO COMMITTEES, WORKING GROUPS 
AND PROGRAMMES  
Members of the Group wil l be briefed on  MSME -related  discussions in the Government 
Procurement Committee and the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance, as well as on import 
licensing and TBT Committe e's discussions on transparency.  
 
Members will then be invited to consider how the Group can participate in such discussions or 
support such initiatives.  
 INF/MSME/CN /1 
- 3 - 
  4  ROAD TO MC12  
• Planning for MC12 - Members will be invited to give their views on the following:  
• What format should a MSME Declaration take?  
• What issues should it cover?  
• How do we organize ourselves in the lead -up to MC12 to ensure the broadest 
support possible?  
5  OTHER BUSINESS  
__________