This country will hopefully accede to the GPA ahead of time

This country has accomplished consultations with 28 GPA (“Government Procurement Agreement”) members. If there is no “accident,” the WTO Committee on Government Procurement will hold a conference for Taiwan on Dec 20, 2002 so that Taiwan may complete the accession procedures. In the future, Taiwan must open international tenders for government procurement markets valued at 6-8 billion annually. Foreign entities in Taiwan expressed that such move will help to solicit transnational construction enterprises to invest in Taiwan.

GPA is a plurilateral agreement of WTO. A WTO member must have consultations separately so as to become a GPA member. After a country enters into the GPA, it must adopt international tenders in the non-discriminatory principle for government’s public construction and government procurement if the value thereof exceeds certain amount of money, except for national security and confidential business.