. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  GPA/M/39 
29 March 2010 
 
 (10-1698) 
Committee on Government Procurement  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE FORMAL MEETING OF 10 FEBRUARY 2010 
 
Chairman:  Mr. Nicholas Niggli (Switzerland
) 
  
1. The Chairman
 said that, in preparation for the meeting, delegations had received an Airgram.1 
Subsequently, the agenda set out in that Airgram had been superseded by his fax dated 4 February 2010.  Subsequently, an appropriate revision to the Airgram
2 had been circulated. 
2. The Committee adopted  the following agenda, as outlined in the revised Airgram: 
 A. Request for observer status:  India. 
 
 B. Other business.  3. No issues were raised under the heading of "Other business". 
A. 
REQUEST FOR OBSERVER STATUS FROM INDIA  
4. The Chairman  recalled that, on 4 February 2010, India had applied to participate as an 
observer in the Committee on Government Procurement.3  He invited the Committee to take a 
decision on India's request for observership. 
5. The Committee agreed  to grant observer status to India. 
6. The Chairman , on behalf of the Committee, warmly welcomed India as an observer of the 
Committee. 
7. The representative of India  thanked GPA Parties and the Secretariat for facilitating his 
delegation's admission to the Committee as an observer.   This would allow India to observe the key 
developments, trends and aspirations in the Comm ittee and to thereby improve India's understanding 
of both the Agreement on Government Procurem ent (GPA), and the Committee's work.  India 
recognized the substantial value of government procurement markets worldwide and observed that, 
while the GPA was a plurilateral agreement, most of the large economies of the world and several 
developing countries were either Parties, or observers to it.  He also expressed an interest in learning 
more about the progress that had been made on the revised GPA text.  His delegation looked forward 
to participating in the Committee's future mee tings and in the Symposium on the Agreement on 
Government Procurement that was scheduled for la ter in the week, on 11 and 12 February 2010. 
8. The representative of the United States  welcomed India's participation as an observer to the 
Committee on Government Procurement.  India wa s a very important country, and was taking an 
important step.  She hoped that India's becoming an observer to the Agreement would be only the first 
                                                      
1 WTO/AIR/3499, dated 26 January 2010. 
2 WTO/AIR/3499/Rev.1, dated 4 February 2010. 
3 GPA/W/311, dated 4 February 2010. GPA/M/39 
Page 2  
 
  step toward India's eventual acce ssion to the Agreement.  Her delegation would be pleased to offer 
India any desired assistance in this respect. 
9. The representative of the European Union
 also welcomed India to the Committee, referring to 
this as an important development for both India an d the GPA.  Her delegation would also be pleased 
to offer any desired assistance to India. 
10. The representatives of Canada , Jordan , Saudi Arabia , Israel , Switzerland  and Singapore  
joined the delegations of the United States and of  the European Union in welcoming India to the 
Committee and offering to work closely with it.   Continuing, the representatives of Canada  and Israel  
also looked forward to India's eventual accessi on to the Agreement.  The representative of 
Switzerland  offered his delegation's assistance, in particul ar, to helping India to address issues related 
to sub-territorial entities. 
11. The representative of India  expressed his delegations' appreciation for the kind words of 
welcome. 
 
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