. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/M/40 
29 March 2010 
 
 (10-1695) 
Committee on Government Procurement  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE FORMAL MEETING OF 3 MARCH 2010 
 
Chairman:  Mr. Nicholas Niggli (Switzerland
) 
  
1. The representative of the Secretariat
1, who chaired the initial part of the meeting with the 
permission of delegations, said that, in preparati on for the meeting, delegations had received an 
Airgram2 setting out the proposed agenda. 
2. The Committee adopted  the following agenda, as outlined in the Airgram: 
 A. Election of the Committee's Chairman for 2010. 
 
 B. Other business.  3. No issues were raised under the heading of "Other business". 
A. 
ELECTION OF THE COMMITTEE 'S CHAIRMAN FOR 2010 
4. The representative of the Secretariat  recalled that, on 25 February 2010, he had 
communicated to all Parties that it was his understandi ng that a consensus existed in favour of the 
re-election of Mr. Niggli (Switzerland) as the Committee's Chairman for 2010. 
5. The Committee re-elected  Mr. Niggli as its Chairman for 2010. 
6. The newly re-elected Chairman , Mr. Niggli, thanked all Parties for the confidence that they 
had placed in him.  Continuing, he noted that Pa rties had expressed their willingness and desire to 
conclude the negotiations under Artic le XXIV:7 of the Agreement in 2010.  He, therefore, committed 
himself to work closely with all delegations to achieve  this result.  In the light of the consultations he 
had held with delegations, he be lieved that concluding the negotia tions in 2010 was a realistic goal 
and he would do his best to help Parties to reach it.   As a first step, he undertook to develop a work 
programme or "roadmap" to guide the Committee's ef forts during the year.  This would be developed 
in the coming weeks and circulated well in advance of the Committee's next informal sessions, to be 
held in the week of 26-30 April.  While concluding  the negotiations would be the topmost priority for 
the year, it was also very important to carry forward the work that was under way on accession to the Agreement by a number of WTO Members.  This wo rk would encompass:  first, speedy conclusion of 
the accession of Armenia, hopefully in the course of the Committee's coming sessions in April;  second, real progress on the accession of China, based on the revised coverage offer that China had 
been asked to provide early in 2010 and which s hould be the subject of focused discussion in the 
Committee;  third, completion of the accession of Jord an, which had been pend ing for a long time and 
which would send a strong, positive signal to other countries in its geographical region and elsewhere 
in the developing world;  fourth, resumption of substantive work on Moldova's accession, which he 
                                                     
 
1 Mr. Robert Anderson, Secretary to the Committee on Government Procurement. 
2 WTO/AIR/3514, dated 19 February 2010. GPA/M/40 
Page 2  
 
  hoped could also be concluded in 2010;  and fifth, continued re gular attention to outstanding 
accession commitments and accession proceedings that were not moving ahead at a satisfactory pace.  Finally, as had been seen already in 2009 and in the GPA Symposium that had been held in February 2010, the Secretariat's technical assistance  work could be a very useful complement to the 
discussions of the Committee on these matters.  Therefore, updates on these activities from the 
Secretariat should continue to be received by the Committee on a regular basis. 
7. The representative of the United States
 congratulated the Chairman on his re-election.  Noting 
that his delegation attached consid erable importance to the regular ro tation of Chairs, he nevertheless 
observed that, taking into consideration the importanc e of the work to be done in 2010 and the energy, 
enthusiasm and commitment that Mr. Niggli had s hown over the past three years, his delegation 
considered him to be ideally qualified to chair the Committee's work in 2010.  For this reason, and on 
an exceptional basis, he was pleased to support Mr . Niggli's re-election.  With regard to the GPA 
Symposium that had taken place in February, he ex pressed his appreciation to the Secretariat for the 
organization of this well-attended event and noted  the quality of the presentations and documentation 
that had been prepared. 
8. The representatives of the European Union , Jordan , Israel , Canada , Singapore , Japan , Chinese  
Taipei , Norway  and Korea  joined the delegation of the United States in congratulating the Chairman 
on his re-election and expressed their appreciation for the work he had done in previous years.  They 
pledged their support for the goal that he had put forward of concluding the ongoing negotiations 
under Article XXIV:7 by the end of the year. 
9. With regard to Jordan's accession to th e Agreement, the representative of Jordan  thanked the 
Chairman for his work and looked forward to completing his delegation's accession in 2010. 
 
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