. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG121/M/1 
28 September 2009 
 (09-4528) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-fourth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
GEORGIA AND UKRAINE, GOODS 
 
Note on the Meeting of 15 September 2009  
 
Chairman: Mr D. Brauns (Germany) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document  WTO/AIR/3410, dated 7 August 2009. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.VIII of its 54
th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) took up cons ideration of the Free Trade Agreement between 
Georgia and Ukraine (hereinaft er 'the Agreement'), goods.  
3. The Chairman  said that the Agreement had entered into  force on 4 June 1996 and had been 
notified by the Parties to the WTO on 8 February  2001 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/REG121/N/1) .  The text of the Agreement was available, 
together with its Annexes, on the Parties' offici al websites.  The Factual Presentation on the goods 
aspects (document WT/REG121/6, date d 30 June 2009) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its 
own responsibility in full consultation with the Part ies, 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 the goods aspects of  the Agreement were recently distributed in 
document WT/REG121/7, dated 26 August 2009.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the 
Agreement by asking first the Parties and then ot her Members to give any general comments.  The 
Committee would then turn to the specifics of the Agreement us ing the Factual Presentation to guide 
the debate.  He proposed to go through the Fact ual Presentation by section, and then through the 
questions and replies document.  
4. The representative of Ukraine  thanked the Committee for the opportunity to consider the 
Agreement and Members for having submitted questi ons.  She also thanked the Secretariat for its 
support in the preparation of the Factual Presentatio n and the delegation of Georgia for its fruitful 
cooperation in preparations for the Committee's mee ting.  The Agreement was part of the bilateral 
agreements between the members of the Commonwea lth of Independent States (CIS).  Since 2000, 
statistics had shown that trade flows between the Parties had increased by 18 times due also to the 
Agreement.  Ukraine was ready to respond to any further questions and discussions. 
5. The representative of the United States  thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
information provided.  She noted that the Agreemen t liberalized over 99% of tariffs and trade between 
the Parties and was highly commendable.  
 
 WT/REG121/M/1 
Page 2  
 
  6. The representative of Turkey
 noted that according to pa ragraph 26 of the Factual 
Presentation, a number of products were subject to ex cise tax in Georgia, mainly alcoholic beverages, 
tobacco products, petroleum products, and motor vehicl es.  The excise taxes were  applied in the same 
way to domestic and imported products, including fr om Ukraine, except for tobacco products.  She 
asked how Georgia justified higher excise taxes on imported tobacco products compared to domestic 
ones.  The representative of Georgia  acknowledged the discrepancy and that his government was still 
working on resolving the issue.  He hoped for a positive solution soon.  
7. The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the goods aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Georgia and Ukraine had allowed the Comm ittee to clarify a number of questions and oral 
discussion of the Agreement could be concluded in accordance 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 22 September 2009  and the Parties were asked to submit 
replies  in writing by no later than 6 October 2009.   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 la nguages, and would be made available on the 
WTO website. 
8. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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