. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/M/36 
19 March 2009 
 
 (09-1379) 
Committee on Government Procurement  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE FORMAL MEETING OF 25 FEBRUARY 2009 
 
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 
airgram (WTO/AIR/3320 of 16 February 2009) setting out the proposed agenda. 
2. The Committee adopted  the following agenda, as outlined in the airgram: 
 A. Election of a Chairman for 2009;  and 
 
 B. Request for observer status:  Ukraine.  3. No items were raised under the heading of "Other Business". 
A. 
ELECTION OF THE COMMITTEE 'S CHAIRMAN FOR 2009 
4. The representative of the Secretariat  said that, on 6 February 2009, he had written to all 
Parties to share his sense that a consensus exis ted in favour of the re-election of Mr. Niggli 
(Switzerland) as Chairman of the Committee on G overnment Procurement for 2009.  He had also 
invited any Parties with any objections or other pro posals to share them with him at that time.  As 
indicated in a further communication to all Pa rties and observers, dated 16 February 2009, no 
delegations had come forward with any objections or other suggestions and a number had written to 
confirm their explicit support for Mr. Niggli's re-el ection.  On this basis, it seemed clear that a 
consensus existed in favour of Mr. Niggli's re -election as the Committee's Chairman for 2009. 
5. The Committee re-elected  Mr. Niggli as its Chairman for 2009. 
6. The newly re-elected Chairman , Mr. Niggli, thanked all Parties for the confidence that they 
had placed in him.  He said that he felt privileged to continue as Chairman of the Committee for a third year.  While the Committee had achieved impor tant successes in 2009, especially toward the end 
of the year, it also faced significant challenges pa rticularly in achieving a successful conclusion to the 
ongoing negotiations under Article XX IV:7 in addition to carrying forward the pending accessions to 
the Agreement.  In the present time of great economic uncertainty, the Agreement on Government 
Procurement and its mechanisms s eemed more relevant to the needs of the world economy than ever 
before.  WTO Members were becoming more and mo re directly involved in economic activity, and 
this put the Agreement and the deliberations that  took place in the Committee at the heart of the 
challenges facing the multilateral trading system.  This , in turn, reinforced the collective responsibility 
of Parties to engage constructively to overcome existing divergences of views and expectations;  to 
work hard towards adapting the GPA to the commercial realities of the 21
st century;  and to create an 
instrument which would enable the Committee to take further significant steps towards achieving 
                                                      
1 Mr. Robert Anderson, Secretary to the Committee on Government Procurement. GPA/M/36 
Page 2  
 
  wider application of the Agreement across the WT O's membership.  He looked forward to working 
with delegations in addressing these challenges a nd carrying forward the work of the Committee 
in 2009. 
7. In the subsequent discussion, delegations congr atulated the Chairman on his re-election, 
pledged their support and expressed their con tinued commitment to the Committee's work. 
B. 
REQUEST FOR OBSERVER STATUS :  UKRAINE  
8. The Chairman  said that Ukraine had applied for observer status in the Committee on 
Government Procurement in a document circulated to Parties on 5 February 2009 (GPA/W/302).  He 
invited the Committee to take a d ecision on Ukraine's application. 
9. The Committee agreed  to grant observer status to Ukraine. 
10. The Chairman , on behalf of the Committee, welcom ed Ukraine as an observer in the 
Committee. 
11. The representative of Ukraine  thanked the Committee for the grant of observer status.  She 
said this would provide an opportunity for her dele gation to observe and monitor the developments, 
trends and aspirations in the Committee and to  thereby improve its understanding of both the 
Agreement on Government Procurement and the Committee's work. 
12. The representatives of the European Communities  and the United States  welcomed Ukraine to 
the Committee and said that their delegations  looked forward to working with it. 
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