RESTRICTED  
  
GPA/M/82  
 
19 April 2021 
(21-3278) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Government Procurement    
 
 
MINUTES OF THE FORMAL MEETING OF 3 MARCH  2021  
(VIRTUAL MEETING)  
CHAIR: MR CARLOS VANDERLOO (CANADA)  
The Chair opened the meeting by noting that, in preparation for the meeting, delegations had 
received an Airgram1 setting out the proposed agenda . The proposed agenda for the meeting was 
as follows:  
 
1. Confirmation of the Committee's Chairperson for the period up to the end of 
the Committee's June meeting s; 
2.   Approval, if agreeable, of (i) the draft decision conc erning GPA documents to be 
circulated in the future; and (ii) the draft decision concerning the derestriction of the 
initial list of historical GPA documents already circulated ( RD/GPA/68/Add.3 ); and 
3. Other business, if any.  
Concerning the second agenda item, t he Chair noted that from his bilateral consultations with 
delegations, it had become clear that the Committee would not be in a position to approve either of 
the two draft decisions concerning circulation, derestriction and translation of GPA -related 
documents. He proposed that the Committee remove this item from the agenda of the 
formal  meeting.   
No items of other business had been proposed by delegations . 
The Committee adopted  the agenda, as proposed by the Chair.  
1  CONFIRMATION OF THE COMMITTEE'S CHAIRPERSON FOR THE PERIOD UP TO THE END 
OF THE COMMITTEE'S JUNE MEETINGS  
1.1.  The Chair recalled that the Committee's Chair for the year was ordinarily elected  or re-elected 
in the course of the Committee's first formal meeting for the year. He had already confirmed his 
availability to continue to chair the Committee until the end of the Committee's June 2021 meetings, 
in view of his scheduled departure from Geneva in July. The Secretariat had not been informed that 
any delegation was unable to support his re -election. In this context, i t was his understanding that 
delegations wished  him to  continue  as Chair until the end of  the Committee's June 2021 meetings.  
1.2.  The Committee  re-elected  Mr Carlos VANDERLOO (Canada) as its Chair until the end of its 
June meetings.  
1.3.  The Chair thanked all delegations for the  continued  trust place d in him  and said it was  an 
honour for him to continue to serve as Chair  of the  Committee. Regarding the election of 
the Committee's next Chair, he recalled that, as set out in his communication of 23 February  2021, 
two nominations had been recently submitted by Parties. He encouraged Parties to continue holding 
bilateral consultations in the coming  weeks and months so that his successor could be elected or 
designated at the Committee's June 2021 meeting s. His hope was that Parties would be able to 
 
1 WTO/AIR/GPA/24   GPA/M/82  
 
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  identify the next Chair through bilateral consultations. If necessary, he was willing to organize 
consultations with delegations to facilitate the identification of the next Chair.  
1.4.  The Chair , outlining his goals and aspirations for the Committee for the ye ar, said that his belief 
was that notwithstanding the limitations imposed by the pandemic, 2021 could be another significant 
year for the Committee , with  important progress being made on  diverse aspects of its work. In this 
context , the Committee might wis h to consider working towards progress in the f ollowing areas, 
noting that all suggestions made were subject to the Committee's evolving interests and relevant 
constraints : 
• First, the Chair  hoped that the Committee w ould continue to make good progress on 
accessions to the Agreement  and would aim to conclude work during the year, 
circumstances permitting, on the accessions of the Kyrgyz Republic, North Macedonia and 
Tajikistan. He trusted that the Committee w ould make substantive progress in negotiations 
with Brazil and Kazakhstan on their terms of accession with the aim to see th ose Members 
joining the GPA in the near future. With respect to China and the Russian Federation, he 
hoped that no opportunity would  be lost to move th ose accession processes forward . He 
also encourage d the incoming Chair, the Committee and Parties to continue promoting the 
Agreement in various regions of the world, including by raising interest in observership ;  
• Second , he trusted that the Committee w ould continue to advance its various agreed Work 
Programmes and look for options to conclude one or more of those Programmes  this year ;  
• Third, he hoped that delegations w ould give due consideration to possible ways of 
enhancing information -sharing and transpa rency within the Committee. Information -
sharing c ould be enhanced through organising GPA workshops to exchange national 
experiences and through holding small -group informal discussions on current 
developments ; and  
• Finally, regarding the WTO e -GPA system  (https://e -gpa.wto.org/ ), he propose d that the 
Secretariat continue to move th is important  project forward, with the support and 
guidance of the Committee.  
2  OTHER BUSINESS  
2.1.  There were no items of other business.  
 
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