WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG293/M/1 
25 April 2012 
 (12-2200) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Sixty-fourth Session   
 
 
  
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  
BETWEEN TURKEY AND CHILE, GOODS 
 
Note on the Meeting of 20 March 2012 
 
Chairman:  Mr. F. Riegert (France) 
 
 
1. The 64th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/3888/Rev.1 dated 9 March 2012. 
2. Under Agenda Item D.II of this session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Chile (hereinafter the 'Agreement'), goods.  
3. The Chairman said that the Agreement had entere d into force on 1 March 2011.  It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 25 February 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/REG293/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/REG293/1 dated 13 December 201 1) had been prepared by the Secretariat on 
its own responsibility in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism (TM) fo r Regional Trade Agreements (doc ument WT/L/671).  In addition, 
written questions and replies on the Agreement ha d been distributed in document WT/REG293/2, 
dated 14 March 2012.  He suggested to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking 
the Parties and then other Members for general co mments.  The Committee would then turn to the 
specifics of the Agreement using the Factual Presenta tion to guide the debate, and then go through the 
questions and replies document. 
4. The representative of Chile thanked the Comm ittee for the opportunity to review the 
Agreement, and the WTO Secretariat for preparing th e factual presentation. He also thanked Pakistan, 
Thailand, the United States and other Members for th eir interest and questions, as well as his Turkish 
colleagues for their close and fruitful cooperation during the review process.  Upon the Agreement's 
entry into force, more than 96% of their bilatera l trade was exempted from tariffs and the remaining 
products were to be liberalized in six years.  The Agreement included chapters on market access, 
sanitary and phitosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, customs rules of origin, procedures, 
safeguard measures and dispute settlement. It benef ited Chile's mining, fruit and agro-alimentary, 
fishing and forestry sectors and granted duty-free en try to machinery and automobiles originating in 
Turkey.  It had been warmly welcomed by th e business communities of both Parties, and it was 
envisaged would increase bilateral trade. The Par ties had provided written answers to the questions 
posed by Members and looked forward to further communications if required. 
5. The representative of Turkey congratulated the Chairman on his re-election and thanked the 
Secretariat and his Chilean Colleagues for their effo rts and cooperation during the preparation  of the WT/REG293/M/1 
Page 2  
 
  factual presentation. He reaffi rmed his delegation's support for a rule-based multilateral trading 
system to which he believed RTAs were compleme ntary. They contributed to the expansion of 
international trade by providing a favourable en vironment for entrepreneurs to further enhance 
business by abolishing obstacles to trade and by facilitating the flow of economic activities between 
countries.  He underlined the need for Members to strike the right balance between RTAs and 
multilateral trade instruments by favouring the latt er.  For Turkey, Chile was an important trade 
partner but also the gateway to the Latin American  region. Therefore, Turkey had high expectations 
for their future trade relations and considered the Agreement an important breakthrough in that sense.  
The Agreement, which was consistent with Article  XXIV of the GATT, established a free trade area 
in trade in goods between Turkey and Chile.  Rega rding questions by Pakistan and the United States 
on tariff liberalisation, he said that, upon the Agreem ent's entry into force, Turkey had eliminated 
customs duties on 85% of its tariff lines.  In add ition, customs duties on a further 219 tariff lines were 
abolished subject to tariff quotas, thus resulting in an elimination of duties on 86% of Turkeys' tariffs 
lines and on 95% of the total value of imports of Tu rkey from Chile in 2010.  The tariff liberalisation 
schedules for industrial and agricultural products were  contained in the Annexes to the Agreement.  
Turkey had abolished all customs duties on imports  of industrial products originating in Chile upon 
the entry into force of the Agreemen t.  Only six out of 13,487 lines were not subject to preferential 
treatment under the Agreement. Additionally, Turkey  had granted preferences on agricultural products 
to Chile through an elimination of customs duties or reduced customs duties on imports of goods originating in Chile on an unlimited basis or subject  to tariff quotas. For certain fresh fruits under HS 
Chapter 8, duty elimination or reduction was app licable on a seasonal basis.  In 2010 preferences 
granted to Chile in agricultural goods covered 48% of agricultural tariff lines, which accounted for 
90% of the value of Turkey’s agricultural imports  from Chile, thus refuting the argument of a "highly 
disproportionate liberalisation between the industrial and agricultural sectors". 
6. The two economies had different characteristics in  terms of their structural patterns; and had 
different offensive and defensive trade interests. W ith one of the lowest industrial tariff averages and 
weighted averages, around 4%, and 2% respectivel y, Turkey had undertaken a more offensive 
approach when liberalizing industrial tariffs comp ared to agricultural ones.  Moreover, they had 
agreed to examine in the Joint Committee the possibility of granting further concessions to each other 
in agricultural products in accord ance with the relevant Article of  the Agreement.  The Agreement 
also aimed at establishing a frame work for cooperative activities to expand and enhance the benefits 
of the Agreement and to build a strategic economi c partnership between the Parties.  There were 
detailed provisions on bilateral co -operation in a specific section (i.e. Title IV) of the Agreement.  
Possible areas of cooperation included innovation, research and development, agriculture, food production and processing, air transport, mining, energy, environment, small and medium size 
enterprises, tourism, gender issues, education, labour and employment matters, human capital development, cultural collaboration, etc.  Regarding the question by Pakistan on the coverage of trade 
in services in Turkey's RTAs, he indicated that Turk ey did not preclude at the outset the inclusion of 
trade in services and investments in its RTAs and that it was working to have a strong services 
component in its future RTAs.  Like Turkey's ot her FTAs, the Agreement contained an "Evolutionary 
Clause" with a view to broadening and supplementi ng its scope.  In accordance with the Clause, the 
Parties would commence exploratory talks on trade in  services and investment no later than two years 
after the entry into force of the Agreement.  They  had also established a Joint Committee to ensure the 
proper implementation of the Agreement.  The Jo int Commission was authori zed to consider and 
adopt any amendment or modifications to the Agr eement, but the implementation of any amendment 
or other modification was subject to the comple tion of internal procedures by the Parties.  
Furthermore, sub-committees on customs and rules of  origin, SPS measures and TBT had also been 
established. With respect to the questions by Thaila nd on antidumping, subsidies or state aid, he said 
that the Agreement did not confer any additional rights  or obligations on the Parties with regard to the 
application of safeguards, antidumping,  subsidies and countervailing measures.  WT/REG293/M/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  7. He said that the positive results of the Agreem ent had already been observed.  The bilateral 
trade had increased by 54% compared to 2010, reach ing US$605 million in 2011.  Turkey’s exports to 
Chile had grown by 61% whereas imports from Chile had increased by 52% during the same period.  
Turkey’s main exports to Chile (e.g. iron a nd steel products, motor vehicles, machinery and 
equipment, chemicals, carpets and tobacco) and Chile ’s main exports to Turk ey (e.g. refined copper 
and alloys, chemicals, plastics, wood pulp and fr esh fruit and vegetables) had greatly expanded in 
2011.  He thanked Pakistan, Thailand and the United  States for their questions and the Secretariat for 
preparing the Factual Presentation, as well as his Chilean colleagues for their close co-operation. 
8. The representative of the United States thanke d Turkey for sharing information on growth 
resulting from the reduction of tariffs, which was an important reminder to all Members of the effects 
of trade liberalization.  She pointed out that acco rding to paragraphs 16 and 17, and Annex 1 (Tables 
AI.1 and AI.2) of the Factual Presentation, Chile w ould eliminate duties on 98.3% of all tariff lines 
and 94.3% of imports from Turkey under the Agreem ent;  95.8% of industrial tariffs and 84.6% of 
agricultural tariffs were to be duty free by the end of the implementation peri od, under the Agreement.  
Turkey would eliminate duties on 84.9% of all ta riff lines covering 95.3% of imports from Chile 
under the Agreement.  Though 97.3% of industrial tariffs would be duty free by the end of the 
implementation period, only 22.6% of agricultural tariff lines would be duty free under the Agreement.  She thanked Turkey for its extensive explanation during the meeting but regretted that 
Turkey had sheltered again its agricultural sector from competition, which was consistent with what 
had already been observed in its other RTAs notifie d to the CRTA.  She appreciated Turkey's detailed 
answers in the Q&A document alt hough almost 90% of Turkey's agricultural imports by value in 
2010 were covered in the Agreement,  this statistic ignored the effect of any existing protectionist 
measures or those in place in 2010 and the potential  future growth that should have resulted in 
agricultural trade if the Parties had eliminated  tariffs in all sectors of their economies.   
9. The representative of Turkey confirmed that impor t statistics referred to values but that the 
value was about 90%.  Turkey did not interpret th e "substantially all the trade" clause as referring to 
all trade.  While it was true that there was some protection in Turkey's agricultural sector, there was 
also protection by the U.S. or other countries.  He  thanked the United States for its interest and noted 
that coverage under the Agreement had been expand ed when compared to pr evious ones and Turkey 
would continue to liberalize in the future.  
10. The representative of the European Union noted that there were a number of RTAs that had 
not been notified.  She took note of the statem ent by Uruguay on behalf of the ALADI members 
during the CRTA that they were working to complete  the notifications of pending agreements, as well 
as the written answers by the Parties in the Q&A document. She asked whether Chile could provide 
any further details and any timeframe for the conclu sion of consultations regarding this matter.   
11. The representative of the United States, like th e EU, asked for more information on Chile's 
agreements with Guatemala, Ecuador, Cuba, ME RCOSUR, Bolivia and Venezuela, which had not 
been notified as required by WTO rules.  She no ted that both Article XXIV of the GATT and the 
Transparency Mechanism imposed notification requirements on individual Members and the notification of an agreement was not conditional on  securing agreements from trading partners.  The 
U.S. like other Members preferred to  submit joint notifications when possible but that notification was 
incumbent on each Member.  She hoped for no fu rther delays on the notification of pending 
agreements.  
12. The representative of Chile congratulated the Ch airman on his re-election.  He thanked the 
EU and U.S. for their questions, and reiterated that  Chile was holding consulta tions with the partners 
involved to submit the notifications as soon as possible. WT/REG293/M/1 
Page 4  
 
  13. The Chairman said that the consideration of the goods aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Turkey and Chile had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions and that oral 
discussion of the Agreement could be concluded in  accordance with paragraph 11 of the TM.  If any 
delegations wished to ask follow-up questions they were invited to forward submissions in writing to 
the Secretariat by 27 March 2012 and the Parties were asked to submit replies  in writing by no later 
than 10 April 2012.  In accordance with paragraph 13 of the TM all written submissions, as well as 
minutes of the meeting would be circulated prompt ly, in all WTO official languages, and would be 
made available on the WTO website. 
14. The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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