RESTRICTED  
  
WT/COMTD/RTA/M/19  
 
15 May 2023 
(23-3395) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Trade and Development  
Nineteenth Dedicated Session on Regional Trade 
Agreements    
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 5 APRIL 2023  
Chairperson: H.E. Ms. Usha Chandnee Dwarka -Canabady (Mauritius)  
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  ................................ ................................ ...................  1 
B. LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION ASSOCIATION  ................................ ....................  2 
(I) Notifications to the WTO of instruments concluded under the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo in 
2021 (WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14)  ................................ ................................ ............................  2 
(II) 26 notifications circulated in accordance with the document symbols specified in  
WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 2 
C. STATUS OF THE WORK OF THE DEDICATED SESSION  ................................ .............  3 
(I) Status of the preparation of factual presentations - Report by the  Chairperson 
(WT/COMTD/RTA/W/15)  ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 3 
D. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  ................................ ............  3 
(I) Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan  (Goods) 
(WT/COMTD/RTA25/N/1, WT/COMTD/RTA25/1)  ................................ ................................ .... 4 
(II) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India 
and Mauritius ( Goods) (WT/COMTD/RTA19/N/1, WT/COMTD/RTA19/1, WT/COMTD/ RTA19/2)  ...... 4 
E. OTHER BUSINESS  ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 4 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Chairperson  said that, before turning to the draft agenda for the 19th Dedicated on 
Session on Regional  Trade Agreements  (RTAs) of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), 
she wished to request all delegations that would speak at the present meeting to email their 
statements to: ctd@wto.org . As this was the first meeting of the CTD's Ded icated Session on RTAs 
in which she was informing delegations of this method to submit statements, she wanted her words 
on this matter to be reflected in the minutes of the meeting. Submitting statements to this email 
address would allow a more efficient p reparation of the minutes of the meeting by the Secretariat. 
She thanked all delegations for doing so in the context of the present meeting, as well as in the 
context of future meetings of the CTD's Dedicated Session on RTAs. 
 
2. The draft agenda as contained  in Airgram WTO/AIR/COMTD/RTA/14/Rev.1  of 24 March 2023  
was adopted . 
 WT/COMTD/RTA/M/19  
 
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  B. LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION ASSOCIATION  
(I) Notifications to the WTO of instruments concluded under the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo 
in 2021 (WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14)  
(II) 26 notifications circulated in accordance with the document symbols specified in 
WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14  
3. The Chairperson  said that  the present agenda item as it stood  was requested by 
the delegation  of Uruguay and was in line with the practice that ha d been established for the 
documents submitted annually by the member countries of the Latin American Integration 
Association  (LAIA) . She indicated  that the Committee would follow th e same  practice  for future 
documents submitted annually by the LAIA member countries as well . Under th e present  agenda 
item, there was a communication circulated in document WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14, titled 
"Notifications  to the WTO of instruments concluded under the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo in 2021". 
Following from this communication,  26 notifications ha d been circulated in accordance with the 
document symbols specified in WT/COMTD/RTA/W/14. She invite d the delegation of Uruguay, as 
well as any other LAIA member countries, to introduce these documents.  
4. The representative of Argentina  delivered the following statement:  
5. I take the floor as holder of the pro tempore presidency of MERCOSUR, which Argentina holds 
for the current six -month period. I refer to the notifications on the agenda for this Dedicated Session. 
LAIA makes notifications for its members, including those belonging to MERCOSUR, pursuant to the 
1980 Treaty  of Montevideo  (TM80). Some of these communications are not directly related to 
WTO rules, as LAIA covers integration matters in Latin Ameri ca that go beyond this framework. In 
accordance with this transparency exercise, it should be noted that what are being communicated 
are not RTAs at the MERCOSUR level, but regulations that allow the effective functioning of the bloc.  
There are 21 LAIA not ifications linked to MERCOSUR, each with broader information under the 
corresponding nomenclature. In general, these constitute regular updates of descriptions of 
MERCOSUR rules of origin, as well as temporary reductions in the tariffs of a MERCOSUR member  
aimed at preventing shortages of certain goods – subject to temporary authorization by the members 
of the bloc. An agreement on facilitating the transport of dangerous goods between MERCOSUR 
members was also notified. The notifications can be found and vi ewed directly on the LAIA website. 
The links are also included in the notifications.  
6. The representative of Uruguay  delivered the following statement:  
7. I take the floor briefly to refer to the notifications to the WTO of instruments concluded under 
the TM80 in 2021. The notification datasheets on the agreements and protocols concluded during  
this period  have been submitted , as approved at session No. 1335 of the Committee of 
Representatives . This exercise is carried out further to the notifications presented in a timely manner 
to this Committee for 2020.  
8. The representative of  the United States  delivered the following statement:  
9. The Unites States would like to thank the parties for these notifications, and for participating 
in this very valuable transparency exercise . 
10. The representative of  the European Union  delivered the following statement:  
11. The European Union thanks the LAIA member countries for their notifications of the 
agreements falling under the framework of the TM80 . We note that there are still eight agreements 
which have been signed under the LAIA umbrella, and which appear on the WTO non -notified 
agreements list. Therefore, we would like to ask the LAIA member countries if they are going to 
submit the remaining notifications in the near future .  
12. The representative of Uruguay  delivered the following statement:  
13. I thank the European Union for this question. Regarding the rest of the notifications, we will 
get back to you bilaterally . WT/COMTD/RTA/M/19  
 
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  14. The Committee took note  of the documents submitted by Uruguay on behalf of the 
LAIA member  countries , and of the interventions made.  
C. STATUS OF THE WORK OF THE DEDICATED SESSION  
(I) Status of the preparation of factual presentations - Report by the Chair person  
(WT/COMTD/RTA/W/ 15) 
15. The Chairperson  said that her report on the status of the preparation of factual presentations 
of RTAs notified under the Enabling Clause was contained in do cument WT/COMTD/RTA/W/15. The 
report indicated that it was still not possible for the Secretariat to finalize a number of factual 
presentations. In some cases, the Secretariat was still awaiting the submission of the full set of data, 
while in others, all comments on the draft factual presentations had not been received. She informed 
the Committee that, after the last formal meeting of the Dedicated Session on RTAs, she had met 
informally with a number of  the parties to the RTAs mentioned in the report. These meetings had 
been useful for her to better understand what was still missing in terms of data or information that 
the Secretariat required for the preparation of the factual presentations. She had urg ed the parties  
in question to submit the required data and information as soon as possible  and was pleased to note 
from the report that progress ha d been made for some RTAs in this respect. She wished to take the 
opportunity to once again urge the parties to the RTAs in question  to submit what was required for 
the preparation of the factual presentations.  She also informed the Committee of an update  with 
respect to the Argentina -Mexico Economic Complementarity Agreement , which was that 
Argentina's  data w ould be sourced from LAIA.  
16. The representative of India delivered the following statement:  
17. Thank you for this report  and for the efforts to reach out to delegations, including India.  
I would also like to thank the Secretariat for being persuasive  and for engaging with Members to 
submit the information. We are happy that we could submit the data and information with clarity , 
based on the series of discussions we had with the Secretariat . 
18. The representative of Argentina  delivered the following state ment:  
19. My delegation would like to thank the Secretariat for the communication efforts and for the 
work in recent months to put together the factual presentation on our agreement with Mexico.  
20. The representative of  the United States  delivered the following s tatement:  
21. We would like to thank you for your efforts . We also  thank the Secretariat for its diligence in 
advancing the preparation of factual presentations . We believe that your perseverance matters .  
22. The Committee took note  of the Chair person 's report , and of the interventions.  
D. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
23. The Chairperson  said that the Committee would turn to the consideration of the two RTAs that 
were listed on the agenda of the present meeting. She wished to organize the consideration of each 
agreement by first inviting the parties to make their introductory remarks. The floor would then be 
opened for interventions by other Members, including on the factual presentation and – where 
relevant – the questions and replies document. The parties could provide responses at any time 
during the discussion to any questions raised. M embers would also have the opportunity to ask 
follow -up written questions after the meeting was concluded. She would remind Members of the 
timeframes for follow -up questions and responses at the end of the discussion on each agreement.  WT/COMTD/RTA/M/19  
 
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  (I) Agreement on Tra de, Commerce and Transit Between India and Bhutan (Goods)  
(WT/COMTD/RTA25/N/1, WT/COMTD/RTA25/1)1 
(II) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between 
India and Mauritius (Goods) (WT/COMTD/RTA19/N/1, WT/COMTD/RTA19/1, 
WT/COMTD/RTA19/2)2 
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
24. No matter was raised under "Other Business".  
25. The meeting was adjourned . 
__________  
 
1 The minutes relating to the consideration of this agreement are contained in document  
WT/COMTD/RTA 25/M/1.  
2 The minutes relating to the consideration of this agreement are contained in document 
WT/COMTD/RTA 19/M/1.