   
  
WT/COMTD/RTA16/M/1  
 
5 November  2020 
(20-7900) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Trade and Development  
11th Dedicated Session on Regional Trade Agreements    
 
 
ACCESSION OF EGYPT TO COMESA (GOODS)  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 29 SEPTEMBER  2020 
Chairman: H.E. Mr. Mohammad Qurban Haqjo (Afghanistan)  
1.  The 11th Dedicated Session o n Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) of the Committee on 
Trade  and Development (CTD)  was convened in document  WTO/AIR/COMTD/RTA/6/Rev.2 of 
18 September 2020.  The meeting allowed for both in -person and virtual participation. Under 
item B (V) of the agenda , the Committ ee considered the Accession of Egypt to the 
Common  Market for Eastern and Southern African ( COMESA ) (Goods)  (WT/COMTD/RTA16/N/1, 
WT/COMTD/RTA16/1, WT/COMTD/RTA16/2 ). The present document contains the minutes relating 
to the consideration of this agreement.1 
2.  The Chairman  said that the Accession of Egypt to COMESA was notified under paragraph 4(a) 
of the Enabling Clause on 3 January 2017. The notification was  originally circulated on 
9 January  2017 in document WT/COMTD/N/51. It was  then re -circulated on 15 June 202 0 in 
document WT/COMTD/RTA16/N/1, in accordance with the new symbols for notifications and 
subsequent documentation relating to RTAs agreed to by the CTD at its 108th Regular Session on 
5 April 2019 . The factual presentation – document WT/COMTD/ RTA16/1 dat ed 15 June 2020 – had 
been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility, and in full consultation with the parties. 
Written questions on the agreement were received from Mexico and Thailand. He noted that, in the 
questions and replies document  (WT/COMTD/RTA 16/2), the parties had not been able to provide 
written response s to all the questions received  within the timeframes  leading up to the present  
meetin g. In particular, responses had  been provided by Egypt to only some of the questions from  
Thailand, and no responses had  been provided to the questions from Mexico. While the parties 
could  address these questions at the present  meeting  if they wished , they would in any case need 
to subm it the remaining written responses after the meeting . Before the Committee concluded its 
oral discussion of the agreement, he would provide  the timeframes  for the submission of the 
remaining written responses .  
3.  The representative of Egypt  thanked Mexico  and Thailand for their written questions. He said 
that Egypt had provided replies to some of these questions, which had been  circulated in 
document WT/COMTD/RTA16/2. His capital was  still coordinating with the COMESA Secretariat  
regarding the remaining quest ions, and the responses to these questions would be submitted after 
the meeting . He went on to say that the main focus of  COMESA in the area of trade p romotion 
included  trade liberalization and customs cooperation; improving the administration of transport  
and communications to ease the movement of goods , services and people between  countries; 
creating an enabling environmen t and legal framework to  encourage the growth of the private 
sector, the establishment of a secure investment environment, and the adoption of common sets 
of standards; and the harmonization of macro economic and monetary policies throughout the 
region.  With regard to bilateral tr ade between Egypt and the COMESA parties, he said that 
Egypt's  exports to all COMESA p arties in 2018 accounted for 8.5% of its total exports. Libya, 
Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea were Egypt's  main export markets among the COMESA 
parties, accounting f or 87.3% of exports to COMESA. In 201 8, Egypt's imports from COMESA 
parties accounted for 1.4% of its total imports. Egypt 's main import  partners in COMESA were 
Kenya, Z ambia, Sudan, Libya, and Malawi. These  countries accounted for 82.6% of Egypt 's total 
 
1 The general minutes of the CTD's 11th Dedicated Session on RTAs are contained in document 
WT/COMTD/RTA/M/11.  WT/COMTD/RTA16/M/1  
 
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  imports  from COMESA p arties  in 2018 . He observed that  economic integration at re gional and 
continental levels was  an ambition for all Af rican countries, and progress was  being made in many 
areas to achieve this ambition. As one of the largest sub-continental trade blocs , COMESA was  at 
the forefront of such developments . It was one of the main building blocks of the African 
Continental Free Trade Area, which sought  to create a single continental market for goods and 
services, with free movement of business , persons  and investments.  
4.  The representative of the European Union  expressed her delegation 's appreciation to the 
parties for the transparency provided.   
5.  The representative of the United States  thanked Egypt and the COMESA members for their 
participation in the transpa rency exercise.  
6.  The representative of Mexico  expressed appreciation to the parties for having participated in 
the transparency exercise. Her delegation looked forward to receiving the parties ' responses to the 
questions from Mexico . 
7.  The Chairman  said that oral discussion of the Accession of Egypt to  COMESA could be 
concluded  in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanism  for RTAs (RTA TM) . 
Follow -up questions by Members would need to be submitted in writing to the Secretariat within 
one we ek, by 6 October 2020. The parties would then  be given two weeks to submit written 
replies, by no later than 20 October 2020. He also requested the parties to provide the written 
responses to the remaining questions from Mexico and Thailand by no later than 20 October 2020 . 
In accordance with paragraph  13 of the Transparency Mechanism, all written submissions as well 
as the minutes of the present meeting would  be circulated promptly in all WTO official languages, 
and would  be made available on the WTO website.  
8.  The Committee took note  of all interventions . 
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