. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/M/30 
4 July 2006 
 (06-3235) 
Committee on Government Procurement  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2 JUNE 2006 
 
Chairman:  Ambassador Tae-yul Cho (Korea)
 
  
1. The Chairman
 noted that, in preparation for the meeting, an airgram (WTO/AIR/2827) setting 
out a draft agenda had been circulated on 23 Ma y 2006.  He suggested that under the item "Other 
business", the Committee take up the election of its Chairman for the year. 
2. The representative of Jordan  said that his delegation wished to make a statement, also under 
the heading of "Other business", to update Partie s on the latest developments regarding Jordan's 
accession to the Agreement. 
3. With the foregoing suggestions, the Committee adopted  the following agenda as outlined in 
the airgram: 
A. Modalities of Accession to the Ag reement on Government  Procurement;  and 
 
B. Other business. 
 
A. MODALITIES OF ACCESSION TO THE AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT  
4. The Chairman  noted that a draft Decision of the Committee on Modalities of Accession to the 
Agreement on Government Procurement had been jointly proposed by the delegations of the 
European Communities and the United States and had been circulated to Parties for their 
consideration as document GPA/W/296 of 23 May 2006. 
5. The representatives of the United States  and of the European Communities  said that the 
proposed draft Decision would facilitate accession of  new parties to the Agreement and recommended 
its adoption by the Committee. 
6. The representative of Japan  said that his delegation supported the adoption of the draft 
Decision. 
7. The Committee adopted  the Decision as proposed.1 
B. OTHER BUSINESS  
1. Election of a Chairman 
8. The representatives of the United States ;  the European Communities ;  Korea ;  Japan ;  
Switzerland ;  Hong Kong, China ;  Canada ;  Norway ;  and Singapore  proposed that the Committee 
re-elect Ambassador Tae-yul Cho from Korea as Chairman for 2006. 
                                                      
1 Circulated following the meeting as GPA/87, 2 June 2006. GPA/M/30 
Page 2  
 
  9. The Committee so agreed
. 
2. Jordan's accession to the Agreement 
10. The representative of Jordan  said that, since the Committee's meeting in October 2005, his 
delegation had worked hard on finalizing Jordan's revi sed and draft final offer, striving to fully reflect 
the main issues in the requests received from GPA Parti es.  In an effort to overcome resistance to its 
GPA accession and to convince the domestic private sect or that it would not be negatively affected by 
the terms of accession, the Government had held a number of meetings with the contractors' and 
engineers' associations and other private sector representatives.  At these meetings, the flexibilities 
which Jordan might be entitled to under the GPA, such as higher thresholds, a longer implementation 
period, exceptions and special and different trea tment of SMEs, were explained.  It was his 
delegation's impression that the private sector was now more positive towards Jordan's accession 
process, but enterprises and associati ons still needed more time to build up capacity, develop further 
understanding of the GPA and give their staff suffici ent and suitable training.  Regarding small- and 
medium-sized enterprises, the definition of SMEs pr epared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade had 
now been approved by the Cabinet.  Regarding the non-sensitive procurement of the Ministries of 
Defense and of the Interior, his Government had received verbal approval that the procurement 
procedures for these activities would be governed by  the GPA's requirements.  Lists of these 
Ministries' non-sensitive procurement were now being prepared and his delegation expected them to 
be finalized within a few weeks.  In regard to the modernization of Jordan's procurement legislation, a 
final draft of the new legislation had received pr eliminary approval from the Cabinet and was now 
being transferred to the Legislation Bureau for fi nal legal review and appr oval of local legislative 
procedures.  In response to the re quest that Jordan submit the draft of the new procurement legislation 
to the Committee in English, he said that his delegation would update the English draft once the 
Legislation Bureau had finished the revision procedures and then provide the Parties with a copy of the legislation. 
11. The Committee took note
 of the statement made. 
__________