WORLD TRADE WT/GC(96)/ST/1
13February 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0532)
Original: English GENERAL COUNCIL
6February 1996
OBSERVATIONS ONTHE WORK OFTHE GENERAL COUNCIL IN1995
Statement byH.E. Mr.K.Kesavapany
Chairman oftheGeneral Council
1. Inaccordance withthedecision taken attheMarrakesh Ministerial meeting ofApril 1994,
theWTO wasestablished on1January 1995. TheMinisters alsodecided thatGATT would continue
toexistuntil31December 1995. Throughout theyearunder review therefore, themembership of
bothorganizations cooperated closely inensuring aseamless transition fromGATT totheWTO. Our
thanks gotoAmbassador Mounir Zahran, Chairman oftheGATT CONTRACTING PARTIES, and
Ambassador Wade Armstong, Chairman oftheGATT Council fortheircooperation inthismatter.
2. Themain focus oftheWTO, during thefirstyearofitsexistence, wastheimplementation
oftheUruguay Round Agreement. Inthisregard, thenecessary decisions weretaken intheGeneral
Council toensure thattheinstitutional mechanisms oftheWTO were setinplace. These included
adoption ofrules ofprocedure forthemain WTO bodies, establishment ofWTO subsidiary bodies
andtheirterms ofreference andthecomposition oftheTextiles Monitoring Body. Withtheagreement
reached ontheestablishment oftheAppellate Body, theWTO wasfullyoperational bytheendofits
firstyearofexistence. Credit mustgoforthistotheWTO membership asawhole andtothechairmen
ofthevarious organizations. Inparticular, Iwould liketorecord anoteofappreciation toAmbassador
Donald Kenyon who, asChairman oftheDispute Settlement Body, hadtheresponsibility forbringing
intoexistence theAppellate Body --thesingle mostimportant andinnovative feature oftheUruguay
Round Agreement.
3. Withtheannouncement byMr.Peter Sutherland thatheintended toleave hispostasDirector-
General, anintensive search wasundertaken tofindasuccessor. After ninemonths, theissue was
resolved andtheWTO welcomed Mr.Renato Ruggiero asthefirstDirector-General oftheWTO.
Much oftheconsultations onthisissue wereundertaken byAmbassador Szepesi, towhom Iwishto
record anoteofappreciation.
4. During theyearunder review, theWTO alsodealtwiththeissue oftheestablishment ofits
headquarters. Following anexamination ofthemerits oftherespective sitesoffered bygovernments,
itwasdecided thattheWTO besitedinGeneva andoccupy thepremises ofGATT. Consequently,
aWTO headquarters Agreement wassigned withtheSwiss authorities inBerne on2June1995.
5. AsinthecaseoftheDirector-General 'sappointment, much ofthework ontheHeadquarters
wasundertaken byAmbassador Szepesi. Anoteofappreciation isalsodueforthework putinby
Mr.Jean-Marie Metzger, Chairman oftheBudget, Finance andAdministration Committee, andthe
Secretariat officials, headed byMr.Jacques Chabert. Besides theacquiring ofphysical premises, the
Agreement alsoresulted inbetter conditions ofliving fordiplomats stationed inGeneva.
6. Intheimplementation oftheUruguay Round andthedrawing upofthevarious rules of
procedure, theOrganization came close tolosing oneofitsvitalattributes thatithadinherited fromWT/GC(96)/ST/1
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GATT, namely, pragmatism. Atendency towards formalism andexcessive concentration onrules
emerged. Thiswasseenparticularly ontheissueofdecision-making inrespect ofwaivers (Article IX)
andaccessions (Article XII). Fortunately, atimely decision wastaken intheGeneral Council and
thistendency wascorrected. WTO Members reiterated that,unless otherwise provided, consensus
should betheprincipal means ofmaking decisions intheOrganization.
7. Inthisregard, Members alsoagreed thatpragmatism should prevail inWTO working practices
andthatexcessive bureaucracy should beavoided. Forthispurpose, andtoensure effective coordination
among thechairmen ofthemaincouncils andcommittees andtheSecretariat, aninformal consultative
process wasestablished. TheDirector-General participated inthisprocess, which waschaired bythe
General Council Chairman.
8. Tocontinue withtheuseful practice ofannual reviews conducted intheGATT, theGeneral
Council adopted thenecessary procedures. Thefirstannual overview ofWTO activities washeldon
13December 1995. Towards theendoftheyear,aninformal process, chaired bytheDirector-General
andmyself, asrepresentative ofthehostcountry, wasestablished tocommence preparations forthe
firstWTO Ministerial Conference inSingapore inDecember 1996. Amajor achievement intheGeneral
Council during theperiod under review wastheestablishment ofaCommittee onRegional Trade
Arrangements. Adecision tothiseffect wasreached atthemeeting on13December. With the
agreement reached thismorning ontheterms ofreference fortheCommittee, Ihopeachair would
beselected soonandthework oftheCommittee operationalized inthenearfuture.
9. AsChairman oftheGeneral Council, Iconsulted Members onthenewoffice bearers ofthe
mainWTO councils andcommittees for1996. Theslateofnominations thatwasproposed attheGeneral
Council meeting on13December 1995 wasunanimously endorsed. Inthisregard, itisworthy to
notethattwowomen, Mrs. LiliaBautista andMs.Anne Anderson, wereelected forthefirsttimeto
holdhighoffice intheGATT/WTO. Itisalsoworthy tonotethatforthefirsttime,f awoman was
appointed astheDirector ofanimportant branch oftheSecretariat --Ms.Debra Steger, Head ofthe
Secretariat oftheAppellate Body.
10. While theabove constitute thepositive accomplishments oftheGeneral Council during the
period under review, itisalsomyresponsibility torecord anumber ofissues which remained unresolved
bytheclose oftheyear. These were:
(a) derestriction ofWTO documents, including panel reports;
(b) guidelines forarrangements onWTO 'srelations withnon-governmental organizations;
(c) WTO 'srelations withother intergovernmental andinternational organizations; and
(d) therelationship between theWTO andmultilateral environment agreements.
11. Thefailure toachieve results onthefirsttwowere notforwantoftrying onthepartofthe
Chairman andtheSecretariat, particularly Mr.Anwarul Hoda andMr.Paulo Barthel-Rosa. Iwould
liketourgeMembers torecognize theneedtoreach apractical solution onthisissueassoonaspossible.
Otherwise, "afreeforall"situation would prevail.
12. TheDirector-General isactively engaged intheresolution ofthethirdissue.
13. Asforthefourthissue,someinitialworkwasundertakenbyme.However,giventhecomplexity
andtheimplications, theissue needs further attention. Iamsurethatmysuccessor willbeableto
findquick solutions tothese issues assoonashetakes over.WT/GC(96)/ST/1
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14. Finally, Iwishtoplace onrecord myappreciation to:
(a) TheAmbassadors andmembers ofthedelegations whoplaced theirtrustandconfidence
inme.IhopethatIhavelived uptotheirexpectations.
(b) Mygratitude tothechairmen ofthevarious councils andcommittees whodidmost
ofthesubstantive work, theoutput ofwhich Itabled intheGeneral Council for
adoption.
(c) Thefriendship andcooperation oftheDirector-General. Itwasmygood fortune to
establish aclose rapport withhim--soclose thatwearebeing called "thetwins".
(d) TotheDeputy Directors-General andallmyother friends intheSecretariat fortheir
ready andunstinting cooperation. Thismade mywork, asGeneral Council Chairman
during theWTO 'sinception, alabour ofloveandanenterprise ofjoy.
15. Finally, ifIhave, during theexecution ofmyduties, inadvertently hurtanyone byword or
deed, Iaskyourforgiveness.