WT/REG442/M/1  
 
8 April 2022 
(22-2892) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Hundred and Second  Session    
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CHINA AND MAURITIUS  
(GOODS AND SERVICES)  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF  28 MARCH  2022 
Chairm an: Ambassador Dr. Cleopa Kilonzo MAILU (Kenya)  
1.1.  The 102nd Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA" or the 
"Committee") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/27/REV.2 dated 18 March 2022.  
1.2.  Under Agenda Item H.I II of the Session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
between China and Mauritius , goods  and services  (hereinafter "the Agreement"). The Chairman  
stated that the Factual Presentation had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility 
in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) o f the Transparency 
Mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  
1.3.  The Chairman  indicated that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 January 2021 . It had 
been notified on 7 January 2021 under Article  XXIV:7(a) of the GATT  1994 and GATS  Article V:7(a) 
(documents WT/REG442/N/1 and S/C/N/1037, respectively ) as an agreement establishing a free 
trade area for trade in goods and services within the meaning of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 and 
Article V of the GATS, respectively . The text of the Agreement and its Annexes was available on 
Parties' official websites and in the WTO RTA database. The Factual Presentation on the goods and 
services aspects of the Agreement (documents  WT/REG442/1 and WT/REG442/1/Corr.1  dated 17 
January 20 22 and 15 March 2022, respectively) and questions and replies on this Agreement 
(document WT/REG442/2 dated 15 March 2022) had been distributed.   
1.4.  The representative of Mauritius  thanked the Chairman  and the WTO Members for their interest 
and questions rega rding the Agreement. He stated that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 
January 2021 and covered both trade in goods and services  in consistency with Article XXIV of GATT 
1994 and Article V of GATS, respectively. He also express ed his gratitude to th e WTO Secretariat 's 
team for their efforts in preparing the Factual Presentation.  
1.5.  He indicated that China and Mauritius had established diplomatic relations in 1972.  Since then, 
bilateral economic and trade relations between the two countries had grown ste adily.  In 2020, China 
was Mauritius' largest source of imports at around USD 704 million.  The main products imported 
had been  machinery, mechanical appliances, and textiles.  China was Mauritius' 9th largest export 
destination with the main exported products being textiles and base metals.  He noted that due to 
the effect of the Covid -19 pandemic Mauritius ' exports had been a bit lower than usual but  had 
jumped from USD 13 million in 2020 to USD 32 million in 2 021, which was the first year of the FTA. 
The main exports ha d been sugar, special sugars and apparels.  
1.6.  The Agreement  was the first signed between China and an African country and under 17 
Chapters, it covered a wide range of areas such as trade in goods, trade in services, e -commerce, 
IP, investment and economic cooperation. Mauritius was confiden t that the Agreement would 
promote further deepening of cooperation between Mauritius and China as well as contribute to 
mutual efforts towards post -pandemic econ omic recovery.  
1.7.  As regards trade in goods, the commitment was to achieve a high -level of liberalization. The 
FTA covered some 8,500 Chinese tariff lines of which only 3.6% would be excluded from the WT/REG442/M/1  
 
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  Agreement and almost 88% had been liberalized immediately upon entry into force of the 
Agreement.  The remaining tariff lines would be liberalized over a period of 5 to 7 years,  thus, opening 
the market for Mauritian exports of a wide range of goods and products, including fish and fish 
products, sugar, garments, jewelry, etc. For Mauritius, 91.4% of its imports from China were duty 
free on an MFN basis, another 2.8% of tariff lines had been  excluded from the FTA, and the remaining 
2.3% would be liberalized in the coming 5 years, i.e. by 2025.  
1.8.  Turning to trade in services, he indicated that Mauritius and China had both taken new or 
improved commitments in a number of sectors, including distribution, finance, education, 
construction and health.  In terms of investment, Chapter 8 of the Agreement, had upgraded  the 
China -Mauritius Investment Protection Agreement , that had been signed in 1996 , in terms of 
protection scope, protection measures, dispute settlement mechanism, etc. This had provided strong 
institutional guarantee s for investment and also allowed  Chinese enterprise s to expand their 
investment and cooperation in Africa and in Mauritius, using Mauritius as a platform.  
1.9.  He indicated that the Agreement also had a dedicated chapter on e -commerce which, inter -
alia, provided for the non -imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions, and provided for  
paperless trading, online data protection and consumer protection.  
1.10.  In conclusion, he thanked the delegation of China for their close collaboration in the 
preparation of the report and also for  the effective implementation of the Agreement for the benefit 
of both Parties .  
1.11.  The representative of China  expressed his appreciation to the WTO Secretariat team's efforts 
in coordinating and preparing the documents submitted to the meeting concerning th e Agreement. 
He thanked Mauritius for its close cooperation in the implementation of the Agreement, as well as 
its comprehensive presentation.  
1.12.  He indicated that the Agreement  had been signed in 2019 and had come into effect on 1 
January  2021. The Agreement comprised 17 Chapters and 3 Annexes and covered trade in goods 
and services, investment, etc. On goods, in 7 years at most, China's zero -tariff would cover  96.3% 
of tariff lines, and 92.8% of imports. On services, China would significa ntly expand market access 
in various service sectors such as commercial services, financial services, transportation, etc. On 
investment, the Agreement  had upgraded the China -Mauritius Bilateral Investment Treaty  of 1996 
and had made  a considerable improve ment in terms of the scope, level of investment protection, 
and dispute settlement mechanism.  
1.13.  Since the Agreement had entered into effect, China had conducted two rounds of tariff 
reduction s on imported  products  from Mauritius.  According to Chin a's statistics, in 2021, China had 
registered more than USD 914 million in trade and more than USD 97 million in direct investment 
with Mauritius, bilateral trade had grown by 25.8% year -on-year, and i mport s had increased by 
35.1%.  
1.14.  With joint efforts by both Parties , the Agreement actively promoted economic and trade 
liberalization and facilitation under the WTO framework. China believed that the Agreement would 
not only provide a more solid institutio nal guarantee for deepening bilateral economic and trade 
relations but also foster a more open, transparent, predictable  environment for business, with the 
aim to expand mutually beneficial cooperation, promote post-Covid-19 economic recovery and 
accomplis h common prosperity for the people.  
1.15.  He stated that China firmly upheld true multilateralism and supported the multilateral trading 
system with the WTO at its core. China  wished to work with all parties to safeguard the common 
interests of the world and joi ntly build a more open  world  economy.  
1.16.  The representative of the United States  congratulated the Parties  for the transparency of th e 
exercise  and for presenting very clearly and compellingly the components of their Agreement. She 
also thanked the Secretariat for the work put into preparing the Factual Presentation. She wished 
the Parties best of luck in implementing th e Agreement.   
1.17.  The representati ve of Japan  thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for their efforts in 
preparing the Factual Presentation. He expressed appreciation for the responses received to the WT/REG442/M/1  
 
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  questions Japan had posed on specific aspects of the Agreement, including the rules of origin. He 
wished the Parties success  in the  implementation of the Agreement . Japan was very interested in 
the introduction of the electronic origin data exchange system under the Agreement.   
1.18.  The representative of the European Union  congratulated the Parti es on the conclusion of the 
Free Trade Agreement. She welcomed that  the Parties had agreed that standards issued, in 
particular, by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Internati onal Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Codex 
Alimentarius Commission (CAC), would  be considered relevant international standards in the sense 
of Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement. She thanked the Parties for the presentation of the Agreement 
and their repli es to the EU's written questions. In conclusion, she expressed appreciation for the 
Secretariat's work on this and all previously presented Agreements.  
1.19.  The Chairman  noted the consideration of the goods and services aspects of the Free Trade 
Agreement betwe en China and Mauritius  had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions 
and conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism. Any delegations wishing to ask follow -up questions were invited to forw ard submissions 
in writing to the Secretariat by 4 April 2022  and the Parties were asked to submit replies in writing 
by no later than 25 April 2022. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all 
written submissions, as well as  the minutes of th e meeting would be circulated promptly, in all WTO 
official languages, and made available on the WTO website.  
1.20.  The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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