Congratulating North Macedonia on successfully completing its GPA accession negotiations, DG Okonjo-Iweala said: “The significance of this completed negotiation goes beyond the expected benefits for North Macedonia and other GPA parties. It confirms that WTO members can deliver binding market-opening outcomes.”

North Macedonia will become the 49th WTO member to be bound by the GPA 2012. This follows the 7 June decision of the WTO’s Committee on Government Procurement on the terms of North Macedonia's GPA accession.

Once the GPA 2012 enters into force, North Macedonia will provide suppliers from other GPA parties with access to the procurement markets covered by its GPA schedule of commitments. At the same time, North Macedonia's suppliers will enjoy access to the procurement markets of 48 other GPA parties, which are estimated to be worth USD 1.7 trillion per year.

Background

Not all WTO members are parties to the Government Procurement Agreement. While it is open to all WTO members, this plurilateral Agreement is binding only for those members that have joined it. A total of 48 WTO members (including the 27 member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom) are currently bound by the Agreement. 

Each applicant's terms of participation are negotiated with GPA parties. These terms are set out in each party's schedule (available from the e-GPA Gateway), which defines its commitments with respect to:

• the procuring entities whose procurement processes will be open to foreign bidders
• the goods, services and construction services open to foreign competition
• the threshold values above which procurement activities will be open to foreign competition
• exceptions to the coverage.

North Macedonia's schedule can be found here.

The GPA aims to open up government procurement markets to foreign competition in a reciprocal manner and to the extent agreed between GPA parties. It also aims to make government procurement more transparent and to promote good governance. Reciprocal market opening assists GPA parties in purchasing goods and services that offer the best value for their money. The Agreement provides legal guarantees of non-discrimination for the goods, services and suppliers of GPA parties in covered procurement activities.