WT/REG341/M/1  
 
28 July 2014  
(14-4330)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-third Session    
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND MAURITIUS  
(GOODS) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 23 JUNE 2014 
Chairman: Ambassador Francisco Pirez Gordillo (Uruguay) 
1.1.  The 73rd Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/4299/Rev.1 dated 13 June 2014. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.IX of the session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Mauritius, (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 June 2013. It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 30 May 2013 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and 
the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade area (document WT/REG341/N/1). The text of the Agreement was 
available, together with its Annexes, on the Partie s' official websites. The Factual Presentation on 
the goods aspects (documents WT/REG341/1 and Corrigendum 1, dated 18 March 2014 and 3 
June 2014, respectively) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in full 
consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/6 71). In addition, written questions and replies 
on the Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG341/2 dated 16 May 2014. He 
proposed to organize the consideration of the Agr eement by first asking the Parties and then other 
Members to give any general comments and then turn  to the specifics of the Agreement, using the 
Factual Presentation, document WT/REG341/1 to guide the debate. They would then go through 
the questions and replies document. 
1.4.  The representative of Turkey welcomed the opportunity to present the Turkey-Mauritius Free 
Trade Agreement (FTA). He thanked the WTO Secr etariat for the informative and comprehensive 
Factual Presentation and expressed appreciation  for the contribution to the process by the 
delegation of Mauritius.  
1.5.  Turkey as a strong supporter of a rule-based multilateral trading system under the WTO had 
also taken an active role in strengthening the WTO rules, disciplines and mechanisms in particular 
on Regional Trade Agreements (RTA). In this re gard, it had pursued a pro-active FTA policy for 
almost twenty years, not only because it believed that RTAs were complementary to the multilateral trading system but also because they contributed to the expansion of international 
trade by providing a favourable environment for international businesses to flourish.  
1.6.  Turkey attached great importance to Mauritius as a significant gateway to Eastern and 
Southern Africa and had high expectations for their future trade relations. In that sense, the 
Factual Presentation provided detailed information about the structure and provisions of the 
Agreement and the preferential regime establishe d to meet these expectations. The FTA between 
Turkey and Mauritius, which was Turkey's first Agreement with a sub-Saharan African country, had been signed on 9
th of September 2011 and had entered into force on 1st of June 2013. Consistent 
with Article XXIV of the GATT, it established a free trade area in goods between the Parties.  
1.7.  Regarding tariff liberalization, Turkey would eliminate all customs duties on industrial 
products within four years of entry into force of the Agreement. Almost all customs duties on WT/REG341/M/1 
 
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  industrial products, more specifically, 98.6% of all industrial tariff lines, had been eliminated with 
the entry into force of the FTA. Additionally, customs duties on a further 187 tariff lines (1.4%) would gradually be abolished within four years after entry into force. Accordingly, at the end of the 
transition period in 2016, all tariff lines on industrial products would be duty-free. 
1.8.  With regard to agricultural products, Turk ey granted Mauritius market access under tariff rate 
quotas (TRQ) for more than 300 tariff lines. Preferential market access granted for agricultural, processed agricultural and fish products to Maur itius was based on two modalities: the elimination 
of customs duties on imports of goods originating in Mauritius under tariff quotas and the 
application of reduced customs duties on unlimited imports of goods originating in Mauritius or under tariff quotas. Overall, based on 2013 fi gures the Agreement covered 91% of Turkey's 
imports from Mauritius by value. 
1.9.  With regard to the questions posed by Cana da on tariff rate quotas and market access for 
sugar, export performance under the TRQ and poss ible requests from operators would be among 
the factors which would be taken into consideration by the Parties when deciding on increasing the 
tariff quota volume. However, the Agreement had been in force for a year only, a relatively short 
time period to assess the utilization of the opportunities provided, so work on improvement of tariff quotas had not started yet. The Parties had also committed to start negotiations through the 
Joint Committee, to explore possibilities for pref erential market access for Mauritian sugar in 
Turkey's market. A meeting of the Joint Committ ee had been tentatively scheduled for July and 
the issue of sugar could be included on the agenda.   
1.10.  With regard to rules of origin, the Agreem ent foresaw bilateral cumulation in trade between 
the Parties. Additionally, they could apply origin  cumulation with the EU and ACP States. Like 
Turkey's other FTA's, the Agreement also contai ned an "evolutionary clause" with a view to 
broadening and supplementing its scope. The Parties had also constructed a mechanism to 
administer the Agreement. A Joint Committee had b een established for proper implementation of 
the Agreement. The Joint Committee was also authorised to consider and adopt any amendment to the Agreement or other modifications or rectifications to the commitments in the Agreement. 
1.11.  Finally, he thanked the WTO Staff for their valuable work in preparing the Factual 
Presentation and the Mauritian delegation for thei r close cooperation and support. He also thanked 
Canada for its valuable questions which enabled further elaboration of the Agreement and the Members present at the CRTA meeting for their participation and interest. 
1.12.  The representative of Mauritius thanked the Chairman and Members for considering the 
Mauritius-Turkey FTA and commended the WTO Se cretariat for having prepared the Factual 
Presentation outlining the essence of the Agreement. 
1.13.  The Agreement, signed on 9 September 2011, and implemented since June 2013 had 
represented a milestone in the relations between the Parties and was also a crucial step in implementing what was expected to be a major new chapter in their bilateral relationship. Turkey 
and Mauritius had established diplomatic relations in 1976. However, old documents from the 
archives showed that they had been entertaining  consular and trade links since as far back as 
1877. Expanding trade was an effective tool for developing both their economies and signing the Agreement provided the right synergy between  the two countries. Although there was no 
comparison between Turkey and Mauritius in terms of  size, especially the size of their economies, 
they had many things in common. Both were of geostrategic importance in their respective regions. While Turkey was the bridge between Eu rope and Asia, Mauritius was "star and the key" 
of the Indian Ocean. Turkey was the blend of se veral civilizations and Mauritius was a melting pot 
of several cultures. Both nations were open so cieties, geared towards modernity and progress, 
while at the same time deriving strength from the values of their past traditions. Both were trade-
driven economies. 
1.14.  Since 2005 Mauritius had embarked on ambitious economic reforms bringing far reaching 
changes in the business environment to create a paradigm shift from a preference based economy to a globally competitive one. Mauritius had reviewed all the cumbersome procedures to ease the 
process of doing business. Both Mauritius and Turk ey stood to gain from improved market access 
provided in the Agreement. The strategic location of Mauritius and its capacity to provide a wide 
range of services efficiently offered the required pl atform to link up with the African continent and WT/REG341/M/1 
 
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  explore possibilities for triangular cooperation am ong Turkey, Mauritius and African partners. This 
could also be a gateway for Turkish firms to penetrate the African market especially the Eastern and Southern African region in view of the membership of Mauritius in the regional blocs of SADC and COMESA. Similar triangular cooperation could also be envisaged among Mauritius, Turkey and 
other European partners. Both countries could now explore the possibility of cumulating rules of 
origin for textiles and export to the EU under the Economic Partnership Agreement as well as the United States. Textiles and clothing represented an important economic activity for both countries 
and collaboration in this sector would be a win-win situation. Triangular cooperation to achieve 
food security and develop renewable sources of energy was also welcome. 
1.15.  The Agreement was not an end in itself. In  line with its policy of economic reforms, 
Mauritius was moving towards a services oriented and a knowledge based economy. The 
development of the services sectors was critical for both countries to harness global trade and 
reap the benefits of globalization. The role of the governments of Mauritius and Turkey was to create the conducive environment for the develo pment of bilateral trade and investment. The 
Agreement would provide the legal framework, but it  would be up to the private sector to tap its 
benefits. Both Parties were working together to establish business links for such trade to grow.  
1.16.  He thanked Turkey for the cooperation in concluding the Agreement with Mauritius and all 
delegations for their keen interest in this process. 
1.17.  The representative of the United States thanked the Parties for their presentations and the 
Secretariat for the factual presentations and all the work that had gone into those informative 
documents. He commended Mauritius for its commitment under the Agreement to a high level of 
tariff elimination. According to Table A1.1 in Annex 1 of the Factual Presentation Mauritius 
eliminated tariffs on 97.6% of agriculture tariff lines and 98.2% of industrial goods lines under the Agreement. However, he was dismayed that Turkey eliminated duties on only a small percentage 
of agricultural tariffs. His delegation had noted in previous reviews in the Committee the 
unfortunate nature of Turkey's efforts to continue to shelter its agricultural sector from competition. He regretted to see that replicated in this case.  
1.18.  The representative of Turkey noted that even though in terms of tariff lines the liberalization 
was lower, the Agreement covered 96% of actual Turkish imports during the period 2010-2012. 
Furthermore, the evolutionary clause gave the Part ies the possibility to improve any aspect of the 
Agreement as needed and so far, they had b een satisfied with the trade coverage of the 
Agreement. 
1.19.  The Chairman said that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Mauritius, had allowed The Committee to clarify a number of questions and 
oral discussion of this RTA could be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wished to ask follow up questions they were invited to forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 30 June 2014 and Parties were asked to 
submit replies in writing by no later than 14 July 2014. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting would be circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages, and would be made available on the WTO website. 
1.20.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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