INF/MSME/R/19  
 
10 November 2020  
(20-8044) Page: 1/2 
  Original: English  
 
 
INFORMAL WORKING GROUP ON MSMES  
OPEN -ENDED REGULAR MEETING OF 20 OCTOBER 2020  
Summary of discussions  
The following communication, dated 10 November 2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
Coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs.  
 
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The Informal Working Group (IWG) on MSMEs held its third open -ended regular meeting of the year 
on 20 October 2020. The meeting was chaired by Ambassador José Luis Cancela Gómez of Uruguay, 
Coordinator of the MSME Informa l Working Group. As at past meetings, the Secretariat was invited 
to sit at the podium.  
 
Members were updated on the progress of the MSME web platform; reviewed the draft package of 
recommendations and declarations; and discussed the mapping of MSME -suppor t measures. A total 
of 76 delegation s1 attended the meeting, including 14 non -working group members (Botswana; 
Cameroon; Chad; Egypt; Georgia; Haiti; Madagascar; Mauritius; Morocco; Namibia; Rwanda; 
Samoa; Thailand; and the United States of America).  
 
1  SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS  
1.1.  The meeting began with an update by Mexico on the Group's MSME web platform. Selection of 
a web developer is currently under way. The UK's TAF2+ has committed to funding development of 
the platform through 2021 and maintenance throug h 2030. Members were invited to express interest 
in joining the platform's task force, which will approve future content, and to suggest a name.  
1.2.  Members were invited to consider the package of recommendations and declarations as having 
been finalized at th e technical level (INF/MSME/CN/6). However, one member expressed 
reservations and could not support to the package as it stood. It was agreed to hold further meetings 
and consultations with this member to try and address their concerns.  
1.3.  The Coordinator sta ted that given the current context of the Covid -19 pandemic, the 
participation of MSMEs in international trade is even more relevant and an issue for the WTO agenda. 
He exhorted the Group to complete the package and invited Members to continue outreach for  the 
MSME initiative even before the package is finalized.  
 
1 Afghanistan; Albania; Argentina; Australia; Bahrain, Kingdom of; Botswana; Brazil; Canada; 
Cameroon ; Chad; Chile; China; Croatia; Czech Republic; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; 
European Union; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Guatemala;  Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; 
Hong Kong,  China; Hungary; Iceland; Ireland; Israel; Japan; Kenya; Korea, Republic of; Lao, PDR; Latvia; 
Lithuania; Madagas car; Malaysia; Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Moldova, Republic of; Mongolia; Montenegro; 
Morocco; Namibia; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norway; Pakistan; Panama; Peru; Philippines; Poland; 
Romania; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Samoa;  Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; 
Sweden; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; Turkey; Ukraine; United  Kingdom; United States of America; 
Uruguay; Viet  Nam (non -MSME IWG members are in italics ). 
 INF/MSME/R/19  
 
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  1.4.  The Group also discussed its efforts to map MSME support measures related to Covid -19 
introduced by governments. The Coordinator noted that 21 Members had agreed to the publication 
of their measure s on the WTO website. Noting that the WTO Trade Monitoring team had already 
published trade -related pandemic measures online, some members expressed a preference for the 
publication of a consolidated list of support measures to avoid duplication of informa tion and 
confusion for readers.  
2  NEXT STEPS  
2.1.  The Chair underlined outreach as an important next step to bring more WTO Members on 
board. Members were advised to contact delegations with regional and close working relations to 
achieve the group's objective to  include all WTO Members.  
2.2.  A number of meetings were proposed to complete the package before the end of the year.  
2.3.  The Group also intends to reach out to the private sector to increase the visibility of their 
package upon completion.  
 
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