WT/REG383/M/1  
 
10 August  2020 
(20-5488) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Ninety -sixth  Session    
 
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GUAM PARTICIPATING STATES (THE REPUBLIC 
OF MOLDOVA, AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA AND UKRAINE), GOODS  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF  27 JULY  2020 
Chairman: Ambassador H.E. Mr. Mārtiņš KREITUS (Latvia)  
1.1.  The 9 6th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter  'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/ 21/Rev.1  dated 6 July 2020. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item E.I of the Session, the CRTA considered the  Free Trade Agreement  between 
the GU AM participating States (the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine), (goods ), 
(hereinafter  "the Agreement").  
1.3.  The Chairman  recalled that during the CRTA meeting of 4 March 2009, Members had agreed 
to consider RTAs involving non -Members under the Transparency Mechanism's procedures and 
agreed that those RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including future notifications, shou ld be 
taken up before the others. Members had made it clear that consideration of such agreements by 
the Committee did not have any implication for the views or positions of any Member with respect 
to the consist ency of that RTA with WTO rules and would be  without prejudice to the rights and 
obligations of Members under the WTO Agreements, as clearly stated in paragraphs 1 and 5 of the 
Transparency Mechanism Decision. Members had also agreed that the consideration of such 
agreements in the CRTA would be org anized under a separate agenda item.  
1.4.  The Chairman then noted that the Agreement had entered into force on 10 December 2003 for 
all the Parties . It had been notified to the WTO by the Republic of Moldova on 3 April 2017  under 
Article  XXIV:7(a) of the GATT  1994 and Article V:7(a) of the GATS as an Agreement establishing a 
free trade area (documents  WT/REG383/N/1 and S/C/N/918, respectively) . The text of the 
Agreement was available, together with its Annexes, on the official website of the GUAM  
Organization.  
1.5.  While the Agreement had been notified as having provisions on both trade in goods and 
services, there were no specific commitments on services in the Agreement. The Factual Presentation 
therefore only covered trade in goods and related provisions. The Fac tual Presentation on the goods 
aspects (document  WT/REG 383/1 dated 14 January 2020 and questions and replies on this 
Agreement (document WT/REG383/2 dated 19 May 2020) had been distributed.  
1.6.  The representative of Georgia  said that it was an honour to take part in the consideration of 
the Free Trade Agreement between GUAM participating States. She conveyed  Georgia's  heartfelt 
appreciation to the Secretariat for the preparation of  the factual presentation and extended  particular 
gratitude to all the Member States of the Agreement for their productive cooperation and contribution 
in the process. She also  thank ed those Members that had demonstrated particular interest in the 
Agreement and had raised questions.  
1.7.  The Members of the Organization for Democracy and Ec onomic Development , GUAM , were 
Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova. The participating States actively 
cooperate d under the GUAM with the aim to fully exploit the existing potential in the areas of trade, 
transport and tourism.  WT/REG383/M/1  
 
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  1.8.  Business for a and other arrangements dedicated to trade and economic matters were 
frequently conducted in the frame work of GUAM, which was primarily focused on the enhancement 
of economic cooperation among the member states on the bilateral as well as multilateral level.   
1.9.  A central objective had been  to ensure the effective functioning of the multilateral agreement 
on the creation of a free tr ade zone signed in 2002. The agreement cover ed trade in goods only 
where the entire commodity spectrum fell under  the free tariff regime.  
1.10.  With the aim of further enhancement of cooperation,  the Parties had signed the Protocol on 
the creation of Coordinati ng Working Body of the Agreement and its scope of activities. Currently, 
the Body was working on the adoption of rules to identify the country of origin for goods, which was 
essential to put the agreement on the creation of free trade zone in effect.  
1.11.  The GUAM Member States were important trad ing partners of Georgia with Ukraine and 
Azerbaijan taking  important  positions among Georgia 's top ten trad ing partners. The enforcement 
of the Agreement would  significantly support the further development of forei gn trade among the 
GUAM  States.  
1.12.   In 2019, Georgia 's export s to GUAM Member States had been  estimated  at USD923 million, 
which corresponded  to 24.5% of Georgia 's total export s. Georgia 's import s from GUAM States in 
2019 had been  estimated at USD1,226 million and corresponded  to 14% of Georgia 's total import s.  
1.13.  She believe d that with joint efforts the GUAM Member States  would finalize the adoption of  
the rules of origin, which would serve as a document to ensure the full operation of th e preferentia l 
regime. This would find extremely positive reflection on the further development of the Parties'  
trade-economic relations.  
1.14.  She reiterated  Georgia's  sincere gratitude to the Committee  for its exceptional work and 
GUAM Member States for  their successful co operation.  
1.15.  The representative of Ukraine  welcomed  the examination of the Agreement between the 
GUAM S tates (Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) by the Committee on 
Regional Trade Agreements.  
1.16.  He appreciated the substantial work that h ad been done by the WTO Secretariat jointly with 
the Governments of all Parties in the preparation of the factual presentation and providing WTO 
Members with the relevant information under the WTO Transparency Mechanism for RTAs.   
1.17.  He also  express ed gratitu de to the delegations of Brazil, Canada and the European Union for 
their questions and other Members for the interest expressed during the consideration of the 
Agreements.  
1.18.  Ukraine saw the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM as an 
important and effective regional organization whose activities cover such important areas of 
cooperation as the promotion of peace, security, stability and sustainable development in the Black 
Sea and Caspian Sea basin region, as well as the expansion of the economic potential of the GUAM 
States.  
1.19.  The Agreement had come  into force in 2003 and was at the focus of economic cooperation 
between the Member States.  
1.20.  The Agreement had establishe d a free trade regime for all goods without exemptions and 
contain ed a rendezvous  clause for trade in services. The provisions of the Agreement were also 
based on the respective rights and obligations of GUAM States under the WTO Agreements.  
1.21.  To improve the institutional framework for the implementation of the Agreement, the status 
and functions of the Working Body coordinating the activities of the Parties had been  separately 
specified by the States.  
1.22.  Ensuring effective functioning of the free trade regime an d developing mutually beneficial 
trade cooperation were the main objectives of economic cooperation between Ukraine and the WT/REG383/M/1  
 
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  governments of the GUAM States. These objectives had been  achieved  through the signing of 
Protocols in the context of the trade and transport facilitation initiative that had become  instruments 
for strengthening trade relations by simplifying customs procedures between the GUAM States.  The 
completion of negotiations and signing  of the Protocol on regulations determining the rules of or igin 
would  facilitate the practical implementation of the FTA and make it operational.  
1.23.  Presently, Ukraine's trade cooperation with Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova 
was carried out on the basis of bilateral Free Trade Agreements.  In addition,  determining the origin 
of goods in mutual trade between Ukraine and Georgia could  now be regulated by the provisions of 
the Pan -Euro-Med Convention due to the ratified Protocol between the Government of Ukraine and 
the Government of Georgia on amendments to the Agreement . Relevant consultations with the 
Republic of Moldova on the harmonization of rules of origin regarding the application of the provisions 
of the PEM Convention in mutual trade had also been initiated.  
1.24.  In 2019, the share of the GUAM States i n the total trade turnover of Ukraine amounted to 2% 
(USD 2.2 billion). The share of the GUAM States in trade turnover of Ukraine within the GUAM was 
as follows:  The Republic of Moldova:  37.7%; Azerbaijan:  35.9%; Georgia:  24.4%.  Ukraine hoped  
that at the e nd of 2020 the share of the GUAM States in Ukraine 's total trade would  exceed  2%. 
1.25.  In the context of bilateral cooperation Ukraine was grateful to Georgia, the Republic of 
Moldova and Azerbaijan for joint work in the implementation of necessary initiatives that would 
stimulate economic development and create a predictable and transparent trade environment. He 
believ ed that full implementation of the Agreement would  achieve this goal.  He looked forward to a 
fruitful discussion and would  endeavour to answer all Members' questions in addition to the se for 
which written answers  had already been provided . 
1.26.  The representative of the Republic of Moldova  was very pleased to participate in the current 
session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements, which had on its agenda the consideration 
of the GUAM FTA concluded between the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. She 
thank ed the Secretariat for its efforts in preparing the factual presentation, which was a well -
structured document. She also thank ed the Republic of Moldova's  FTA partners for the good 
collaboration and for the ir joint efforts in reviewing the questions that had been circulated . She 
moreover  thanked the Members wh ich had submitted questions and had shown interest in th e 
Agreement.  
1.27.  From the outset, it was important to highlight that the Republic of Moldova deem ed Free 
Trade Agreements as a new platform for further opening up trade and an effective approach to 
integrate into the global economy and strengthen trade cooperation with other countries. The 
Republic of Moldova viewed FTAs as an important supplement to the multilateral trading system.  
1.28.  The Agreement on Establishment of a Free Trade Area among the GUAM Participat ing States 
between Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan represent ed an old type or a so -called „first 
generation " FTA signed on 20 July 2002 and that had entered into force on 10 December 2003.  
1.29.  The Agreement aimed  at the elimination of all the tariffs applied by the Parties, liberalizing 
access to their goods markets.  
1.30.  The main objectives which continue d to be pursue d within the GUAM platform, particularly 
referring to the facilitation of regional trade were: 1) suppo rting the efforts of the Steering 
Committee of the Project for Trade and Transport Facilitation aimed at simplify ing procedures, 
through  the application of blockchain technologies for the verification of certificates of origin and for 
the mutual recognitio n of authorized economic operators ; 2) the active participation of the GUAM in 
the implementation of the SDGs for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; 3) steps forward 
in implementing diagonal cumulation of origin in the framework of the GUAM Agree ment and the 
PEM Convention; 4) as well as tentative steps in facilitating faster development of the GUAM Digital 
Trade Hub to provide commercial and business entities with the necessary information on inter alia, 
customs, trade, transportation and tourism .  
1.31.  In the spirit of transparency promoted within th e WTO , the goods aspects of the Agreement 
had been  notified under Art. XXIV: 7 (a) of GATT to the WTO on 3 April 2017. While  the Agreement 
had been  notified as having provisions on both trade in goods and services, she noted  that, currently , WT/REG383/M/1  
 
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  there were no specific commitments on services in the Agreement, which were yet to be negotiated 
between the Parties. Additionally, it was  important to mention that GUAM was in full conformity with 
the WTO rules and pri nciples. Th e Agreement had  eliminate d all duties and other restrictive 
regulations of commerce on substantially all trade between the Parties. Furthermore, it did not 
introduce any more restrictive trade regulations in relation to third parties.  
1.32.  The Republ ic of Moldova  believe d that all the initiatives of trade facilitation, which the GUAM 
Parties had launched during recent years, would  be further pursued. Indeed, there was a lot of work 
for improvement s and steps to be taken. Yet, the work undertaken  in the framework of GUAM 
Agreement continue d to provide Parties with opportunities to develop additional policies in order to 
further increase trade flows and investment in the region.  
1.33.  The Republic of M oldova hoped  that the discussion would help the Members t o enhance their 
understandings of the terms of th e Agreement . She looked forward to any further questions that 
Members might have  on the Agreement.  
1.34.  The representative of Azerbaijan  said that his country  had supported the establishment of the 
Agreement betw een the GUAM Participating States with the aim of develop ing mutually beneficial 
trade and economic cooperation based on equality and mutual benefits.  
1.35.  The Agreeme nt had built on positive developments with individual Member States at the 
bilateral level und er existing free trade agreements.  
1.36.  The Agreement had created the conditions for free movement of goods and services between 
the GUAM Member States, while bringing positive experience s from bilateral  cooperation between 
GUAM Members to the regional level.  
1.37.  Nevertheless, the provisions of the Agreement (Article 23) indicat ed that the bilateral free 
trade agreements currently in force between the Member States were applicable  only to the extent 
to which their provisions were compatible with the provisions of the  Agreement .  
1.38.  Azerbaijan 's overall total trade turnover with GUAM Member States in 2019 represented  
approximately  USD1.5 billion , with the largest trade turnover with Uk raine followed by Georgia and  
the Republic of  Moldova. This was an upward development compared to the previous year. The same 
indicator for the first three months of the current year was over USD320 million.  In general, the 
Agreement  had been benefi cial for  overall trade between the participating Member States.  
1.39.  Recalling that Azerbaijan was the only WTO acceding country  among the GUAM Member 
States , he looked forward to finalization of the procedures for becoming a WTO Member  at the 
soonest . 
1.40.  He said that, d uring the process of the preparation of the factual presentation by the 
Secretariat , Azerbaijan  had cooperated with the Secretariat and exchanged information and 
responses  to the questions raised by  the Secretariat and by some WTO Member States.  
1.41.  He confirmed that Azerbaijan  remain ed open for future cooperation with its partners in GUAM, 
the WTO Secretariat as well as interested WTO Members. Should there be any further questions 
under the current presentation Azerbaijan was ready to consider them in d ue course . He request ed 
Member s to submit their question s in writ ing. 
1.42.  The representative of China  asked if the Parties were planning to establish a customs union 
and, if that were the case, if the y were willing to shed some light on the proposed schedule for the 
establishment of such a customs union. She  confirmed that the question would be provided in 
writing.   
1.43.  The representative of the United States  thanked  the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia, 
Ukraine and the Secretariat for t he transparency on th e Agreement. She also commend ed the Parties 
on the high level of liberalization under the Agreement. She noted that Azerbaijan had a couple of 
non-notified agreements that were in force with current WTO Members. She hoped these agreeme nts 
would be notified promptly.  WT/REG383/M/1  
 
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  1.44.  The representative of the European Union  thanked the Parties for their answers to the 
European Union's written questions  and the Secretariat for its work . The European Union was 
reviewing the Parties' responses. He thanked a gain the Parties for the transparency and the deep 
liberalization achieved  in the Agreement.  
1.45.  In response to the question by China, the representative of Georgia , highlighted that, at this 
stage, there were no plan s to create a customs union among the GUAM Member States.  The 
representatives of Ukraine  supported Georgia's  response and wondered why China asked the  
question about the possible establishment of a customs union. He recalled that the factual 
presentation ma de no mention of any customs union. The  representative of the Republic of Moldova  
also confirmed that there were no plan s among the GUAM Member States to establish a customs 
union and was also interested in understand ing what had been the reason for the ques tion by the 
delegation of China.  
1.46.  The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement  
between the GUAM participating States (the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine)  
had allowed the Committee to clarif y a number of questions and could now conclude oral discussion 
of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanism. If delegations wished 
to ask follow up questions they were invited to forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat  by 
3 August 2020. Parties were asked to submit replie s in writing by no later than 17 August 2020. In 
accordance with paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as 
minutes of this meeting would be circulated promptly, in a ll WTO official languages, and would be 
made available on the WTO website.  
1.47.  The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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