The Government Procurement Agreement

The Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) is the only legally binding agreement within the WTO covering government procurement (GP) guaranteeing fair and non-discriminatory conditions of international competition in GP. States usually spend around 15-25 % of GDP on GP. The GPA has 42 WTO members and the estimated value of markets open to competition is 1.6 trillion $/Year.

Seminar on GPA and GP

CSEND organized a seminar on GPA on 11th June in Geneva within the context of a graduate course taught by Professor Raymond Saner. Speakers at the seminar included Mr. Nicholas Niggli, Counsellor, Deputy Head of the WTO Division, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the WTO & EFTA and Chairman, WTO Government Procurement Agreement; Mr. Junior Lodge, Technical Coordinator, WTO Negotiations, CARICOM Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) and Mr. Robert Anderson, Counsellor, expert of GPA at WTO.