RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONS/FIN/M/21
11 January 1999
(99-0085)
Committee on Trade in Financial Services
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 DECEMBER 1998
Note by the Secretariat
1. The twenty-second meeting of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services was chaired by
Mr. Yoshio Okubo of Japan.  The discussion followed the agenda contained in airgram
WTO/AIR/965.
2. The Committee discussed the status of acceptances of the Fifth Protocol to the GATS.  In
informal mode, two Members reported that they had completed their internal procedures foracceptance, while several other Members expressed their expectations that they would be accepting
the Protocol soon or by the deadline of 29 January 1999.  While welcoming the progress made by
those Members in their procedures for acceptance, delegations which had accepted the Protocol urged
those Members concerned to speed up the process and to accept in time for the deadline.  A proposal
was made to have another meeting of the Committee in January in order to assess the situation beforethe deadline.  The Committee subsequently agreed to this proposal.  The Chairman reminded
delegations that the time limit for acceptance was only a little more than a month away, and that there
was an urgent need for the Members concerned to ensure that acceptance would be completed in time.
3. On recent developments in financial services trade, the delegation of the European
Communities expressed its gratitude for the offer of Côte d'Ivoire (S/C/W/86 of 9 December 1998),
which was the Member's first in financial services, and stated that it might come back with questions
for clarification.  The Chairman also welcomed the submission by Côte d'Ivoire.
4. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would take place on 19 January 1999.
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