99-4759 MOREPRESS RELEASE
PRESS/144
3 November 1999
WTO DG MOORE ANNOUNCES SELECTION OF FOUR DEPUTIES
World Trade Organization Director-General Mike Moore today announced that he has
selected four candidates to serve as his Deputy Directors-General for the next three years.
Mr. Moore announced that he had selected Ablassé Ouedraogo, of Burkina Faso;
Paul-Henri Ravier, of France; Miguel Rodríguez Me ndoza, of Venezuela; and Andrew Stoler, of the
United States of America as his deputies. (Biographies of each deputy are attached to this press
release). Mr. Ouedraogo is the first African and first representative of a Least Developed Country ever
chosen as a Deputy Director-General of the WTO or its predecessor, the General Agreement onTariffs and Trade.
Following weeks of intensive consultations with dozens of WTO member governments,
Mr. Moore made his selection from a pool of highly qualified candidates.
As instructed by the General Council, Mr. Moore also consulted with his designated
successor, Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand, before making his selection.
"This decision was an extremely tough call, given all the very good people who were
nominated by their governments. I have selected a broad mix of people with the wide range of skills
we need to ensure smooth and efficient management of the WTO Secretariat. I want these men in
place as soon as possible and certainly by the Seattle Ministerial Conference (30 November to3 December). Precisely when they can take up their duties is up to their governments and employers,"
Mr. Moore said.
Mr. Moore and Dr. Supachai agreed that the four Deputies would serve for a month after
Mr. Moore's term expires on 31 August 2002 so as to allow for a smooth transition when Dr. Supachaicomes to office to begin his three-year term.PRESS/144
Page 2/3
MOREAblassé Ouedraogo
Biographical Note
Ablassé Ouedraogo has been the Special Advisor to the President of Burkina Faso since
February 1999, having served for the previous five years as Minister of Foreign Trade.
During the last decade, he has represented Burkina Faso at senior level in various
international inter-governmental forums, including as Deputy Resident Representative of the United
Nations Development Programme in Kinshasa, Za ire (1991-1993), Head of the Regional Office for
East Africa of the United Nations Sudano-Sahélienne Office covering, at the same time, the IGADD,
the SADCC, the OAU, the ECA and the UNEP (1993-1994).
More recently, in October 1998, Mr Ouedraogo led the Delegation of Burkina Faso at the
Ministerial Meeting of ECOWAS and was a Member of the Presidential Delegation at the 21st
Regular Summit of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in Abuja, Nigeria.
In November 1998, he was the Head of the Delegation of Burkina Faso at the Meeting of
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and was a Member of the Presidential Delegation at the 20th Summit of
Heads of State of France and Africa in Paris, France. In the following month, he participated in the
OECD Forum of development partners.
Among his publications are “Réflexions sur la crise industrielle en France” (Reflections on
the Industrial Crisis in France), University of Nice, 1979; and “Les firmes multinationales etl’industrialisation des pays en voie de développement” (Multinational Companies and the
Industrialization of the Developing Countries), University of Nice, 1981.
In December 1997, he was awarded the honorary distinction of Officer of the National Order
of Burkina Faso.PRESS/144
Page 4
MOREPaul-Henri Ravier
Biographical note
Paul-Henri Ravier has served for more than tw enty years in various positions in the French
Department of Trade, within the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.  Since 1991, he has
been Deputy-Secretary of this Department, which represents France in the relevant committees in the
EU, and in the multilateral trade negotiations, formerly in the GATT, and subsequently in the WTO.
After a Master's degree in Law, Paul-Henri Ravier spent two years in the post graduation
course at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (1973-1975), during which he was posted toWashington.  He then joined the civil service in the Trade Department, in charge of the bilateral trade
relations with South-East Asia, and then, for another two years, was responsible for the relations with
the Middle-East.
In 1980, he was appointed as advisor for international economic issues to the Prime Minister
(and former EU Commissioner) Raymond Barre.
On his return to the Trade Department, Paul-Henri Ravier was promoted for three years as
Head of the unit in charge of the Trade Finance Policy, and participated in the OECD negotiations on
disciplines on aid and export credits.
For five years (1985-1990), he was appointed Assistant Director, responsible for the
management of bilateral trade relations with Eastern Europe, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle-East.
During the period 1975-1990, the various positions held by Paul-Henri Ravier have led him to
establish close contacts with many officials in the field of international trade, either with his
counterparts in foreign Administrations, or with the business communities involved in bilateral and
multilateral issues.
In his current position as Deputy-Secretary of the Trade Department since 1991, Mr. Ravier
has participated in, and managed, negotiating teams in a number of trade negotiations dealing with
settlement of trade disputes, definition and conduct of export promotion strategies, and managementof trade finance schemes.
He has led the French delegation in the East-West "MUNSTER" process for five years, in
several negotiations on international aid issues in the OECD and, more recently, in various
negotiations in the framework of ASEM meetings.PRESS/144
Page 5
MOREMiguel Rodríguez Mendoza
Biographical note
Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza is a specialist on trade policy issues.  Since mid-1998 he has
been a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and has worked as a consultantfor a number of international organizations, such as Andean Community, UNCTAD and the IDB.  He
has also advised several Venezuelan private companies on trade matters.  He was, until March 1998,
Chief Trade Advisor at the Organization of American States (OAS), where he established that
organization's Trade United, which has played an important role in the preparatory process as well as
the negotiations of the Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Between 1991 and 1994, he was Minister of State, President of the Institute of Foreign Trade,
Venezuela's governmental body responsible for the country's trade policies.  During this period he led
Venezuela's trade negotiations and concluded trade and integration agreements with Colombia,
Mexico, Chile and the countries of Central America and the Caribbean.  He became President of theCommission of the Cartagena Agreement, the policy decision body of the Andean Community, in
1993.
Between 1989 and 1991, he was Special Advisor to the President on International Economic
Affairs, and was appointed as chief negotiator for Venezuela's accession to the GATT, which was
completed in 1990.  From 1982 to 1988, Mr. Rodríguez Mendoza was Director for Consultation and
Coordination at the Latin American Economic Sy stem (SELA), where he was responsible for
assisting Latin America and the Caribbean countries in international economic negotiations.  He has
also been a member of Venezuela's Foreign Service, and served as first secretary at the Venezuelan
Mission to the United Nations (1978-81).
In 1973, Mr. Rodríguez Mendoza obtained a law degree at the Central University of
Venezuela.  In 1975 he completed a Postgraduate Course in Economic Development at the University
of Manchester (England), and subsequently attended the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales (Paris, 1975-77), where he prepared a Do ctorat de 3eme Cycle in the field of political
sociology.
He has edited Trade Rules in the Making:  Challenges in regional and multilateral
negotiations (Washington, DC: OAS/Brookings Institution, 1999);  The Andean Community and the
United States:  Trade and Investment Relations in the 1990s (OAS, 1998);  Growth or Recession:  The
IMF and the World Bank in Latin America (Paz e Terra Economía, Rio de Janeiro, 1987); and A
Difficult Co-Existence:  Latin America and U.S. Economic Policies (Nueva Sociedad, Caracas, 1987).
He has also published several articles in different books and specialized journals.PRESS/144
Page 6
ENDAndrew L. Stoler
Biographical note
Andrew L. Stoler has been Deputy Chief of Mi ssion at the Geneva, Switzerland, office of the
United States Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Office of the President, since September 1989.
In this capacity, he serves as the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the WorldTrade Organization (WTO) where, with the Ambassa dor, he is charged with the local day-to-day
coordination and execution of the multilateral trade policies of the United States.  During the Uruguay
Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, Andrew Stoler was principal U.S. negotiator for the
Agreement Establishing the WTO.  Mr. Stoler is Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession to
the WTO of Ukraine and currently serves as a Deputy Chairman of the WTO Committee on RegionalTrade Agreements.
From January 1988 through August 1989, Mr. Stoler  served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade
Representative for Europe and the Mediterranean in the Washington office of USTR.  In that position,
he was charged with bilateral trade relations with the European Union, non-EU Europe and countriesin the Near East and North Africa.  During this period, Mr. Stoler organized and chaired the U.S.
Government's Inter-agency Task Force on the EC's "Internal Market" programme.
Mr. Stoler served as MTN Codes Coordinator in the Geneva USTR office from January 1982
through December 1987.  In this capacity, he represented the United States in the Committees and
Councils established for the Non-tariff Meas ure "Codes" negotiated during the Tokyo Round of
multilateral trade negotiations.
Joining USTR in early 1980, Andrew Stoler's first assignment in the office was as Director
for Canada, Australia and New Zealand – a position he occupied until his departure for Geneva.  Prior
to working at USTR, Mr. Stoler served in the Office of International Trade Policy at the U.S.
Department of Commerce from 1975 through 1979, during which time he served as a member of theU.S. Delegation to the Tokyo Round.
Mr. Stoler holds an M.B.A. in International Business from George Washington University
and a B.S. in International Economic Affairs from Georgetown University's School of Foreign
Service.