WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG294/M/1 
20 December 2012 
 (12-6992) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Sixty-seventh Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
TURKEY AND JORDAN, GOODS  
 
Note on the Meeting of 20-21 November 2012 
 
Chairman:  Mr. F. Riegert (France) 
 
 1. The 67th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WT O/AIR/4013/Rev.1 dated 9 November 2012. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.IV of this session, th e CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA) between Turkey and Jordan (hereinafter the 'Agreement'), goods.  
3. The Chairman noted that the Agreement had ente red into force on 1 March 2011.  It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 7 Marc h 2011 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/REG294/N/1).  The te xt of the Agreement was available, together 
with its Annexes, on the Parties' official webs ites.  The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects 
(document WT/REG294/1 dated 29 August 2012) had b een prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parti es, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism for Re gional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  In addition, 
written questions and replies on this Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG294/2 
dated 13 November2012.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking 
the Parties and then other Members to give any ge neral comments and to then review the specifics of 
the Agreement. 
4. The representative of Turkey th anked his Jordanian colleagues and the Secretariat for their 
close cooperation and efforts during the prepara tion process of the Factual Presentation. He 
reaffirmed his strongest support for the multilateral trading system under the WTO rules, disciplines 
and mechanisms. He also underlined that Turkey considered Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) as 
complementary to the multilateral trading system and not  an alternative to it.  He was also of the view 
that RTAs could contribute to the expansion of  international trade by providing a favourable 
environment for business by facilitating the flow of  economic activities between and among countries.  
5. Jordan was an important economic and commercia l partner for Turkey in the Middle East.  
Moreover, relations between the two countries were not  just confined to the exchange of goods and 
services.  Turkey and Jordan jointly maintained st rong cultural, political and historical ties as well.  
Therefore, by opening an economic channel for furthe r interaction, Turkey strongly believed that the 
Agreement constituted an important breakthrough.  
6. The Agreement was signed within the context of  the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership process 
which had been started by the EU and its Mediterran ean partners, with the aim of promoting shared 
economic prosperity and development by establishing a free trade area in the region.  In this regard, WT/REG294/M/1 
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  the partner countries concluded FTAs with each othe r in which the diagonal accumulation of origin 
had a key role.  As part of that process, Turk ey had completed all FTAs except with Algeria, 
including with Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.  The internal 
approval procedure of the FTA w ith Lebanon was still on-going.  
7. Turkey and Jordan had previously concluded other Trade Agreements to enhance mutual 
cooperation activities.  The new Agreement repealed  and replaced the Trade Agreement (signed in 
1980) and the Commercial, Industrial and Techni cal Cooperation Agreement (signed in 1983) 
between the Parties.  
8. The Agreement included provisions aimed at  establishing a framework for cooperative 
activities as a broad means to expand and enhance its  benefits.  Accordingly, there were detailed 
provisions on bilateral co-operation between  the two counties under the specific title of 
"Cooperation".  In this context, Turkey would prio ritize technical co-operation activities for Jordan in 
the primary fields of economic co-operation namely ; industry, agriculture, services, transportation, 
SMEs and trade development.  
9. The rules of origin to be applied in preferen tial trade between the two countries were set out 
in the Second Protocol (II) of the Agreement which provided for the implementation of diagonal 
accumulation of origin among the EU, the EFTA and the Euro-Med partners.  
10. For the proper functioning of the free trade area , the Agreement also contained provisions on 
state monopolies, competition, public procurement,  protection of intellectual property rights, and 
cooperation between customs administrations.  Amo ng the regulatory provisions, the Agreement also 
laid down standards on safeguards, anti-dumping and s ubsidies in conformity with the relevant WTO 
Agreements.  
11. Regarding the issue of "substantial coverage",  on which Colombia and the United States had 
posed questions, Turkey underlined that, 82% of Turkey's tariff schedule had become duty free for products originating in Jordan upon entry into for ce of the Agreement.  Besides, agricultural and 
industrial products in 2011 account ed for approximately 15% and 85% of total bilateral trade 
respectively.  Taking into account Turkey's sectoral priorities and the large share of industry in total 
bilateral trade, emphasis had been gi ven to liberalization of industrial goods rather than of agriculture.  
As a result, 97.5% of Turkey's actual imports by value from Jordan had become duty free upon entry into force of the Agreement.  Therefore, by ach ieving little less than 100% of actual trade coverage, 
the Agreement had created a very good channel co vering and facilitating "substantially all trade" 
between the Parties.  Additionally, Turkey grante d preferences on agricultural products to Jordan 
through the elimination of customs duties on im ports on an unlimited basis or tariff quotas on a 
seasonal basis.  Moreover, since the process of further liberalization was open ended, further 
possibilities of granting additional concessions to each other in trade in agricultural products would be 
examined (in the Association Council) in acco rdance with Article 12 of the Agreement.  
12. The initial positive results of the Agreement coul d already be seen.  For the period of January-
September 2012, the volume of bilateral trade between the Parties had had increased by 49% 
compared to the previous year, and had amounted to US$647 million in 2012.  Turkey's exports to Jordan had increased by 49% and imports from Jordan  had also increased by 48% in the same period.  
These figures reflected much higher growth rates co mpared to the general export growth rates of 
around 14%. 
13. Turkey thanked its Jordanian colleagues and th e Secretariat staff for their close cooperation 
and support in preparing the Factual Presentation.  He also thanked Members for their questions and 
interest.   WT/REG294/M/1 
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  14. The representative of Jordan welcomed the oppor tunity to submit the Agreement establishing 
a Free Trade Area between Jordan and Turkey for consideration.  He hoped that the background 
information provided in the standard format and the joint introductory st atement presented by the 
delegation of Turkey would allow Me mbers to make progress on the factual part of the consideration.  
Jordan attached great importance to the multilateral trading system and WTO principles, and to 
regional trade agreements which integrated developi ng countries into the world economy.  Jordan and 
Turkey shared longstanding and outstanding bilate ral economic relations.  The Agreement which had 
entered into force in 2011, had institutionalized bila teral economic ties and promoted greater trade and 
investment flows between both countries.  
15. The Agreement was comprehensive in scope, and substantially liberalized trade in goods in 
compliance with Article XXIV of the GATT.  It  established clear, transparent and mutually 
advantageous rules governing trade to enable bus inesses to conduct transactions freely, use resources 
efficiently and take planning decisions with certainty .  It was designed to further strengthen trade and 
economic ties between the two countries with a vi ew to raising living standards and promoting 
economic growth, investment opportunities and employ ment, and eventually raising the capacity and 
international competitiveness of goods from both countries.  
16. The Agreement also recognized that Jordan was still in a state of development and faced 
special challenges.  The Agreement's gradual approach  to liberalization within the 12 year transition 
period allowed a progressively closer economic relati onship while giving the needed time to improve 
the competitiveness of Jordan's different econom ic sectors and industries and allowed national 
exporters to adjust to new requirements.  
17. Since the entry into force of the Agreement,  the volume of trade between both countries had 
clearly increased.  Jordan's total exports to Turkey  had increased by 52% during 2011 compared to the 
previous year, amounting to US$98.1 million.  On th e other side Jordanian imports from Turkey had 
reached US$548.9 million in 2011, which placed Turkey  as one of the most important exporters to 
Jordan.  
18. In conclusion, the Agreement complemented Jo rdan's foreign trade policy which was based 
on the norms of economic openness and integration in to the rapidly globalizing world economy. Such 
policy incorporated the country's vision and pos itive view of economic partnerships as necessarily 
achieving both mutual interests and fair dividends.  Jordan had made giant strides on the path to 
economic and trade liberalization in addition to reinforcing mech anisms and the functioning of a 
market-oriented economy.  This was made possibl e through an intensive reform process bringing 
about a modern and conducive regulatory environment for business and investment.  
19. Jordan was prepared to provide clarificati ons on any questions or comments by Members of 
the Committee and would provide further replies in writing if needed.  He informed Members of the 
Jordanian website address on which tariff eliminati on schedules under the agreement were available, 
which was http://www.mit.gov.jo/ . 
20. The United States thanked the Parties and the S ecretariat for producing the information that 
allowed Members to consider the Agreement.  He  drew attention to a number of the tables and 
annexes in the factual Presentation including Tables III.1A and 1B and Annex I tables AI.1 and AI.2.  
According to them, Turkey eliminated duties on 82 % of all tariff lines covering 97.5% of imports 
from Jordan under the Agreement.  However, while 95.2% of industrial tariffs were duty free, only 
16.3% of agricultural tariff lines were duty free under the Agreement.  Jordan eliminated tariffs on 
88.9% of all tariff lines covering 86.2% of imports  from Turkey.  Under the Agreement however only 
37.7% of agricultural lines were duty free.  As the delegation of Turkey had pointed out and as stated 
in the questions and answers documents, the Par ties believed that the substantially all trade 
requirement had been met because lines representi ng 97.5% of Turkey's total imports from Jordan WT/REG294/M/1 
Page 4  
 
  became duty free upon the Agreement's entry into for ce and lines representing 86.2% of Jordan's total 
imports from Turkey would become duty free in seven years after the Agreement entered into force.  
Such an argument ignored the fact that incomple te liberalization could preclude trade that would 
otherwise occur and the growth in the Parties' trade that should result through an agreement that 
eliminated tariffs in all sectors of their economy.  The Parties noted too that they would examine the 
possibility of including additional agricultural products  in the future.  However in the view of the 
United States indefinite rendez-vous clauses could be used to cover that the substantially all trade 
requirement was not met by the full implementation of the commitments that the Parties had actually 
agreed to. 
21. The representative of Colombia thanked Turk ey and Jordan for the presentation of the 
Agreement and for the answers to questions submitte d on 8 November.  The answers had been sent to 
the capital and she did not have follow-up questions.  
22. The representative of the European Union thanke d Jordan and Turkey for their presentation of 
such a significant agreement between two of its impo rtant and close economic partners in the context 
of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements. 
23. The representative of Turkey thanked the United St ates for its question.  It was true that the 
Agreement had achieved a much higher level of liber alization commitments in industrial goods than 
in agriculture.  It was also true that agriculture represented only 5% of Turkey's trade with Jordan and 
95% of their actual trade comprised industrial goo ds. The Parties believed they had fulfilled the 
criteria of the substantially all trade clause by  including both sectors in the Agreement and by 
achieving liberalization of almost 98% of actual trad e.  As mentioned, while global imports had fallen 
by 3% imports from Jordan increased by almost 50% .  Turkey requested the United States or any 
other Member to provide a clear ass essment of the substantially all tr ade clause or jurisprudence that 
could help clarify what was the actual percentage of substantially all trade in terms of total trade or 
tariff line coverage. 
24. The Chairman said that consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Jordan had allowed the Comm ittee to clarify a number of questions and oral 
discussion of this RTA could be concluded in acc ordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism.  If any delegations wished to ask fo llow-up questions they were invited to forward 
submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 27 November 2012 and Parties were asked to submit 
replies in writing by no later than 11 December 2012.  In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions , as well as minutes of the meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages, and would be made available on the WTO 
website.   
25. The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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