   
  
WT/REG467/M/1  
 
6 April 2023 
(23-2542) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Hundred and Sixth Session  Original: English  
 
COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (CECPA)  
BETWEEN INDIA AND MAURITIUS  
(GOODS AND SERVICES)  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 27 MARCH 2023  
Chair: Ambassador H.E. Ms. Clare KELLY (New Zealand)  
1.1.  The 106th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA" or the 
"Committee") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/31/Rev.1 dated 17 March 2023.  
1.2.  Under Agenda Item I.IV of the Session, the CRTA considered the  Comprehensive Economic 
Cooperati on and Partnership Agreement between India and Mauritius , services  (hereinafter "the 
Agreement"). The Chair stated that the factual presentation had been prepared by the Secretariat 
on its own responsibility in full consultation with the Parties, in accord ance with paragraph 7(b) of 
the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  
1.3.  The Agreement had entered into force on 1 April 2021. It had been notified to the WTO by the 
Parties on 15 April 2021 under Article  V:7(a) of the GATS  in document S/C/N/1053 as an agreement 
progressively  liberaliz ing trade in services, goods, and other areas of cooperation. She noted that 
the goods aspects of this Agreement had been  notified under the Enabling Clause and  would be 
reviewed at the forthco ming meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development  (CTD),  scheduled 
for 5 April 2023. The text of the Agreement and its Annexes was available on the Parties' official 
websites and in the WTO RTA database. The Factual Presentation (document  WT/REG467/1 ) and 
questions and replies (document WT/REG467/2 ) had been distributed.  
1.4.  The representative of India congratulated the Chair on her appointment and thanked the 
Secretariat for preparing the comprehensive factual presentation and its engagement with the 
Parties during the process. He also thanked Mauritius for the close cooperation and the other 
Members for their interest in the Agreement. In particular, he thanked Brazil, the EU, Japan, and 
the UK for their written questions which had provided t he Parties with an opportunity to explain the 
relevant features of the Agreement .  
1.5.  The Agreement had been signed on 22 February 2021 and had entered into force on 1 April 
2021 and was  India's first trade agreement with countries in the African continent. I t was a limited 
agreement covering goods,  trade in services, the movement of natural persons, telecom munications , 
financial services, dispute settlement, and cooperation in other areas. As noted , the goods aspects 
of the Agreement had been notified under t he Enabling Clause and  would be discussed in the CTD 
Meeting. The details of the Agreement had been comprehensively co vered by  the factual 
presentation, including web -links to the Agreement.  
1.6.  The Parties had enjoyed excellent bilateral relations sustained b y historical and cultural 
affinities, frequent high -level political interaction, development cooperation, defen ce, and maritime 
partnership, as well as people -to-people linkages. Moreover, Mauritius had been a key strategic 
partner in India's extended neig hbourhood and an important element of its Africa policy.  
1.7.  Since 2005, India had been among the largest trading partners of Mauritius and one of the 
largest exporters of goods and services to Mauritius. Bilateral trade between India and Mauritius had 
grown b y 280.5% from USD 206.76 million in 2005 -06 to USD 786.72 million in 2021 -22. WT/REG467/M/1  
 
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  1.8.  India's exports to Mauritius during 2021 -22 had stood at USD 714.85 million, growing by  
69.03 % vis-à-vis 2020-21, while its imports from Mauritius were USD 71.87 million, growing by  
68.68% during the same period.  During the initial nine months of 2022 -23 (April -January), India 's 
imports from Mauritius were valued at USD 72.19 million, corresponding to a growth of 19.50% vis-
à-vis the same period in 2021-22, and its exports to Mauritius were at USD 392.17 million, declining 
by 38.40% during the same period.  
1.9.  As regards trade in services, Indian service s providers had access to around 115 subsectors of 
the 11 broad service sectors such as professional servic es, computer related services, research & 
development, other business services, telecommunication, construction, distribution, education, 
environmental, financial, tourism & travel related, recreational, yoga, audio -visual services, and 
transport services.  India had offered around 95 sub -sectors from the 11 broad services sectors, 
including professional services, research and development , other business services, 
telecommunication, financial, distribution, higher education, environmental, health, tourism an d 
travel related services, recreational , and transport services.  
1.10.  The Agreement had an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve trade between the 
Parties .  
1.11.  The Chapter on General Economic Cooperation (GEC) had been included through  an 
amendment to the Agreement that had entered into force on 1 October  2022. The Chapter would 
promote all forms of economic cooperation beneficial to the citizens of the Parties in various sectors, 
including investment, financial services, film production, information and communication technology 
(ICT), space, biotechnology, blue economy, infrastru cture, healthcare, education, renewable energy, 
arts & culture.  
1.12.  The Parties had been engaged in discussions to enhanc e market access through exchange of 
concessions on items of export interest to them. 
1.13.  The representative of Mauritius  thanked India for the detailed and comprehensive 
presentation of the Agreement and the Secretariat for preparing the factual presentation, which had  
required a great deal of work. He also thanked the Members for their interest in the Agreement, 
especially those wh ich had submit ted written questions .  
1.14.  The Parties enjoyed excellent bilateral relation s and the conclusion of the Agreement had 
marked yet another important milestone.  In 2021, India had been Mauritius second largest supplier, 
constituting 16% of its total imports.   
1.15.  As mentioned earlier, the Agreement had come into force on 1 April 2021. It had 3 key 
components , trade in goods, trade in services , and economic cooperation. It aimed at fostering trade 
and economic cooperation through the liberalization of goods and services in line with WTO principles 
and provide d an appropriate framework to improve efficiency and iron out any trade barriers 
between the Parties.  
1.16.  Regarding services, which were the focus of the CRTA Meeting, the Parties had agreed and 
had taken commitm ents in a number of areas, including insurance and insurance -related services, 
banking and other financial services, telecommunications, professional services, and quite a few 
other sectors . With the se commitments, which had been in full compliance with Ar ticle V of the GATS 
in terms of sectoral coverage, the Agreement had ensured certainty and transparency for services 
suppliers in key sectors as mentioned earlier. Additionally, it had provided a framework for 
professional bodies to engage in dialogue on t he recognition of qualifications, licenses, and 
registration, as well as the development of mutual recognition agreements.  
1.17.  The Parties noted that the Agreement would not only provide a strong platform to expand 
their trade in services but also set up a mo re predictable business operating environment in line with 
the objective s of the multilateral trading system.  
1.18.  The Chair opened the floor for any questions from the Members.  
1.19.  The representative of Canada  thanked the Parties for providing transparency as par t of the 
exercise and for the ir efforts in contribut ing to the work of the Committee.  WT/REG467/M/1  
 
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  1.20.  The representative of Japan  thanked the Parties for their remarks and the Secretariat for the 
preparation of the factual presentation . He appreciated the responses to Japan's questions and 
apologized for the late submission of an additional question related to financial services on which he 
looked forward to receiving responses from the Parties.  
1.21.  The representative of the European Union  thanked the Parties for their presentations and 
transp arency provided , as we ll as replying to the EU's written questions. She also wished the Parties 
success in  the implementation of the Agreement.  
1.22.  The representative of the United States  thanked the Parti es for their presentations and 
participation in the transparency exercise. Following the written question raised by the EU, he noted 
that there was a large asymmetry in tariff liberalization commitments as shown in table 3.1 of the 
factual presentation. 95 % of India's tariff lines had been excluded from duty phase -out under the 
Agreement. He asked the Parties if they could  amplify or explain the difference in market access 
commitments, and what the bilateral economic incentives were.  
1.23.  The representative of India thanked Canada, Japan, the EU, and the U.S. for their interest 
and encouraging words regarding  the success of the Agreement. He acknowledged receipt of  Japan's 
additional question  on financial services  and indicated  that India had been expediting the reply and 
would send it soon. Regarding the U.S. question on tariff liberalization, he explained that since the 
Committee was considering only the services aspects of the Agreement, India would discuss this 
matter in the CTD as the goods aspects of the Agr eement had been notified under the Enabling 
Clause. On services  he noted  that the Agreement  had been  quite ambitious, and the commitments 
made by the Parties were significantly WTO plus  with significant  market access conditions. India had 
access to Mauritius's market for about 116 subsectors, including a wide variety of services such as 
professional, com puter -related, research and development, financial, communication, construction, 
distribution, education, and environmental services , etc. India had also offered market access to 
Mauritius for around 95 subsectors, which also varied from professional servi ces to research and 
development, business, telecom munications , financial , distribution, higher education, environment, 
health, tourism and travel -related, and recreation and transport services. The general economic 
cooperation provisions moreover had provi ded for the promot ion of all forms of economic 
cooperation, which had been beneficial to the citizens of both the Parties in various sectors.  
1.24.  The representative of Mauritius  joined India in confirm ing that it would be more appropriate 
to address the U.S.'s  question  on tariff liberalization in CTD Meeting and that the Parties' written 
replies to Japan's additional question would be circulated.  
1.25.  The representative of the United States  thanked the Parties for their responses and 
acknowledged the Parties' inten tion to discuss issues related to tariff liberalization in CTD. He further 
noted that the Parties had mentioned that the Agreement was the first trade agreement of India on 
the African continent and congratulated them on this achievement. He also referred to the Parties' 
excellent bilateral trade relationship, with the Agreement being an important element of India's 
Africa Policy  and asked if India had any plans to negotiate more trade agreements with its partners 
on the African continent, and if so, whethe r the Agreement would serve as a template .  
1.26.  The representative of India thanked the U.S. and said that India had been ambitious in its 
trade agreements. It was already in discussions with the UK, and negotiations with a number of 
members including Canada a nd the EU were ongoing. In the future, however, India would look at 
the possibilit y of negotiating  RTAs with other members o n the African continent. There had not been 
any such agreements or negotiations so far  and it would be very difficult to assess how things would 
shape up in the coming years, but India would put its best foot forward in any negotiations. India 
would also take away lessons from the Agreement  on how to move forward. It was already in the 
process of  engaging further in its cooperation with Mauritius, so certainly, some elements would find 
a place in any agreement it would negotiate in the future on the Continent.  
1.27.  The Chair noted that the consideration of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and 
Partnership Agreement between India and Mauritius, services had allowed the Committee to clarify 
a number of questions and conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of 
the Transparency Mechanism. Any delegations wishing to ask follow -up questions were invited to 
forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 3 April 2023 and the Parties were asked to 
submit replies in writing by no later than 17 April 2023. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the WT/REG467/M/1  
 
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  Transparency Mechanism all writte n submissions, as well as the minutes of the meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages, and made available on the WTO website.  
1.28.  The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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