Brussels, 30/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Montenegro and New Zealand are soon to swell the ranks of the WTO member countries taking part in the WTO's government procurement agreement (GPA), after their respective requests for accession reached a successful conclusion on Wednesday 29 October.
The GPA commits its partners to discipline in transparency, competition and good governance in government procurement. It covers the acquisition of goods, services and infrastructure by public authorities, and its aim is to open up as much of government procurement as possible to international competition and to eradicate corruption in this sector.
The GPA was revised in 2012 to modernise certain aspects of the rules of the 1994 text of the agreement, and to extend its scope of application. In particular, the revised GPA takes account of the generalised use of electronic tools for public contracts. The scope of the GPA was extended to numerous government entities (ministries and agencies) and to covering new services and other areas of activity in public contracts. In addition, the revised GPA integrates improved transitional measures to facilitate the accession of developing and less developed countries.
The revised GPA entered into force in April. It currently has 43 members: Armenia, Aruba, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the US, and the EU and its 28 member states. Other members have begun their GPA accession process: Albania, China, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Oman and Ukraine. In addition, the WTO accession protocols of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Mongolia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan have provisions relating to GPA accession. The contribution of public procurement to global GDP is estimated at between 15-20%. (EH)