Ref. Ares(2017)4217673 - 29/08/2017
Ref. Ares(2017)5324690 - 31/10/2017
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate B - Services and Investment, Intellectual Property and Public Procurement
Services
Brussels, 15 November 2012
MEETING REPORT
Subject: Meeting with the European Services Forum (ESF) and the Member States
Delegates at the TPC Services and Investment, 12 November 2012
Objective: The main objective of this bi-annual informal meeting organized at the
initiative of ESF was to discuss the state of play of the plurilateral negotiations as
well as the individual FTA negotiations.
Details:
2.
Plurilateral negotiations on services
COM (
): de
[Art. 4.1 b]
briefed ESF on the state-of-play of the plurilateral services
negotiations among the group of Really Good Friends (RGF).
Comments and questions from ESF and its members:
• ESF and TheCityUK congratulated COM on the progress made since the last ESF
meeting.
• ESF expressed support for the possibility to multilateralize the initiative in the
future so that the agreement can be extended to other major markets as well later
on.
• ESF inquired about the timeframe for other WTO Members to join the initiative.
• ESF and TheCityUK inquired about how the upcoming negotiations will be
managed and in particular asked if the WTO Secretariat will be involved.
• Siemens inquired about the objective for including government procurement in
this services initiative.
• ESF asked the Cypriot Presidency about the attitude of MSs in the TPC towards
the plurilateral initiative, in order to learn if MSs are likely to endorse the process.
COM (
): elab
[Art. 4.1 b]
orated on the expected timeframe and reiterated that the door is
left open for other WTO Members to join the initiative either during the negotiations or
later. Explained that there is no consensus among RGFs about the role of the WTO
Secretariat in the plurilateral negotiations. Mentioned an option that secretarial duties
could be executed on rotational basis taking the example of the TPP negotiations.
Emphasized the importance to flag our interest in including government procurement in
the plurilateral.
The Cypriot Presidency (
): explaine
[Art. 4.1 b]
d that there are lot of discussions in the
TPC on the details and mentioned that it is hard to predict the progress than can be made
until the end of the presidency. Also thanked COM for organizing an expert meeting on
the plurilateral initiative.
[Art. 4.1 b] , Trade B.1 - Services
2