RESTRICTED  
  
G/TFA/M/1  
 
24 May 2017 
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Committee on Trade Facilitation   
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETI NG 
HELD IN THE CENTRE W ILLIAM RAPPARD 16 MAY 2017 
Chairman: H.E. Mr  Kyonglim  Choi (Korea ) for the first part of the meeting, followed by  
H.E. M r Daniel Blockert ( Sweden ) 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods  (CTG) , Ambassador Choi , welcomed 
delegations to the inaugural meeting  of the WTO Committee on Trade Facilitation  (TFC) . He 
informed that with it being the very first session of the Committee whose Chairman was yet to be 
formally appointed, he had been asked to o pen the meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the 
CTG. He would hand over to the chairperson -designate once his appointment ha d been confirmed.  
1.2.  The proposed agenda for the session ha d been circulated in WTO/AIR/TFA/1. It contained  
only one item – the conf irmation of the appointment of the chairperson -designate. He propos ed 
that Members adopt the agenda . 
1.3.  The agenda was adopted . 
2  CONFIRMATION OF APPO INTMENT OF CHAIRPERSO N-DESIGNATE  
2.1.  The Chairman of the C TG recalled that, at its meeting on 7 April, the General Council had 
taken note of the statement by the General Council Chair, informing delegations of the consensus 
on the appointment of Ambassador Daniel Blockert from Sweden as the Chairman of the Trade 
Facilitation Committee. In line with th at development, he therefore propose d that the Committee 
formally elect ed Ambassador Blockert as its first Chair. 
2.2.  It was so agreed . 
2.3.  The Chairman of the CTG  congratulated Ambassador Blockert on his election and handed 
over the chairmanship to him. He wished him all the best for his new assignment.  
2.4.  The elected TFC Chair man thanked Members for having entrusted him with this  responsibility. 
He had always considered trade facilitation to be a very important endeavour and welcome d the 
opportunity to further advance it in this new role. Having the Committee now in session mark ed an 
important milestone in the WTO's longstanding efforts to foster the facilitation of trade around the 
globe. Members had finally reached the stage where their collective engagements over the past 
years were bearing fruit. In doing so, they were  testimony of what c ould be achieved – even under 
challenging circumstances – when working in coalitions of a common cause. The T rade Facilitation  
Agreement (TFA) assign ed the Committee a series of important tasks and  he wished to tend to 
them as soon as possible. This being a brand new WTO body, there were, however, a few matters 
Members had to agree on before the Committee c ould turn to substance. They were mostly of a 
procedural nature and relate d to matters such as  rules of procedure, participation in C ommittee 
meetings and organization of work.  
2.5.  In line with the longstanding tradition of trade facilitation discussions taking place in a 
member -driven, bottom -up manner, he wished to get Members' input on those issues so that the 
Committee could firmly  base its work on common ground . He therefore plan ned on consulting G/TFA/M/1  
 
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  interested delegations  and invite d all Members wishing to get in touch to contact the Secretariat. 
Once those consultations were concluded, he would conve ne another TF C session where Members 
could hopefully agree on the procedural framework. While he could not yet give a precise date for 
that session as its timing depend ed on the durati on of the consultations, he  would like to see it 
happen no later than th e end of June or the first half of July.  
2.6.  The representative of the European Union  welcomed Ambassador Blockert and congratulated 
him on his appointment as Chair man of the T FC. The EU wished him the best of luck in the new 
role and was very happy to see tha t the new Chair c ame from a Member that was a long standing  
supporter of Trade Facilitation. The EU attached great importance to the successful implementation 
of the T FA. The EU had been one of the strong promoters of the TFA from its very inception 
throug hout the entire negotiating period  and to its conclusion in Bali in 2013.  
2.7.  The EU very much looked forward to working closely and actively with the Chair man and with 
other interested Members in the coming months to get the TFA and the TFC off to a good star t. 
The EU also welcomed the consulta tions and wished to contribute.  
2.8.  The representative of Cameroon  congratulated the Chair man on his election. He sought a few 
clarifications regarding the upcoming consultations. Would they take place with the Chair man, 
through the Secretariat, or would they take place directly amongst Members - or would there be 
no contact among Members? How did the Chair man envisage the exchanges to take place? With 
the WTO being a member -driven organization, it was important to see Member s interact on this 
question. Interactions among Members as they had happened  during the negotiations could be a 
key to advanc ing in the right direction, as they had been in the past . 
2.9.  The Chairman  responded that  he was in Members' hands. This was the third Committee in 
the WTO  that he was chairing. As Chairman, he  had held extensive consultations in all those 
previous bodies and they had been conducted in different configurations. He was not going to 
decide for Members how they wished to go about it. He was open to consultations in all formats 
and configurations.  He also wanted to underline that he did not mean to suggest that consultations 
would be limited to the period up until the next TFC meeting. What he was foreseeing in the short 
term was to hold consu ltations up until the subsequent meeting on matters such as rules of 
procedure that had to be addressed before the Committee could get into substance. Beyond that, 
he would remain open to consultations with all interested Member s throughout his chairmanshi p. 
His door would remain open and he very much looked forward to working with all Members . Before 
closing, he wished to turn to the Secretariat for an announcement.  
2.10.   A representative of the  WTO Secretariat  (Nora Neufeld)  informed delegations of an 
upcoming event on 2 June. Members' collective achievement, the entry into force of the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement , deserved a celebration, and time had therefore been set aside to that end. 
The idea was to hold a one -day commemorative event which , in a first part , would review how 
delegations had been able to successfully negotiate the Trade Facilitation Agreement, chronicling 
the negotiating history  and analysing positions and approaches, especially with respect to special 
and differential treatment. A second par t of the event would analyse the impact of the TFA and 
invite Members to discuss the road ahead , particularly regarding implementation . A programme 
would be issued soon to give a  sense of what was planned. Th e event was meant to be Members' 
celebration , placing the spotlight on what they had been able to achieve. It was therefore hoped 
that all delegati ons would be able to take part.  
2.11.   The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
2.12.   The meeting was adjourned . 
 
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