./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/17
3 March 1999
(99-0822)
Original:  English
GENERAL COUNCIL
Meeting held on 1 March 1999
Statement by Ambassador A. Mchumo, Chairman of the General Council,
on the Appointment of the next Director-General
As this is the first meeting of the General Council that I preside since my election last week as
Chairman, let me begin by expressing once again my deep gratitude and appreciation to all of you for
your confidence and trust in me and let me also renew my hope for your continued support and
understanding in the year ahead.  We are facing many crucial and some difficult decisions to make in
the days to come and I want to count on your collective support in facing the challenges ahead of us.
Indeed, as the WTO is a member driven organisation, it is you the Members who will be making those
decisions and my role as Chairman will be to manage that process leading towards the expression of
your collective will.
Upon being elected last Tuesday February 16th, I had indicated that the most urgent matter
that has to be resolved by the Council is the election of the new Director General and I promised toundertake urgent consultations on how to proceed on the matter.  Over the last few days, I have
undertaken wide ranging consultations on this matter.  Naturally, given the shortage of time, I could
not reach all delegations, and so I would like to use this meeting to report on the results of my initial
consultations and to use this meeting itself as a continuation of that consultative process.
As a result of those consultations, the following points came out very clearly:
1. As Chairman of the General Council I should take full charge of the consultations leading to
the appointment of the new Director General.  As you are aware, the Procedures for Future
Appointment of the Director-G eneral, approved by the CONTRACTING PARTIES of GATT on 26
November 1986 provide that "The Decision to appoint the Director-General for the first term should
be taken after a process of consultation to be conducted by the Chairman of the CONTRACTING
PARTIES".  My predecessor, Ambassador John Weekes, as the previous Chairman of the General
Council did not feel to be in a position to conduct these consultations independently since his country
has a candidate for the position.  I have no such conflict of interest since my country has no candidate,
and so as Chairman of the General Council, I believe it is my duty to undertake this process of
consultations as provided in the Decision I have just mentioned, and I intend to do it.
2. Although my coming into the scene has therefore ushered in a new situation, we cannot
however cast aside all the work that has been carried out under the guidance of Ambassador Weekes
and by the two facilitators who were appointed to consult on the matter.  Given the fact that a wealth
of information has already been exchanged with the facilitators and that we must seek a consensus on
the new Director-General by building on this wealth of information, I do not feel in a position to carry
out consultations on this matter alone.  I have therefore decided to ask Ambassador Rossier to
continue as a facilitator to assist me in this difficult task.  Ambassdor Rossier who enjoys total
confidence of the Members has kindly agreed to continue as a facilitator, and the two of us will work
as a team.WT/GC/17
Page 2
3. At this juncture, we are therefore closing the previous phase and beginning a new phase of the
same process.  In the context of the previous phase, Ambassador Rossier last reported to the Council
on 20th January 1999 and since that day until yesterday, Ambassador Rossier has been receiving
information which is either new or different from the previous information.  From the discussions in
previous meetings of this Council and from my subsequent consultations, it is the view of manydelegations that the General Council is entitled to know this information before we start a new phase
of consultations.  It is therefore my intention to ask Ambassador Rossier to present his final report
under the previous phase.
4. As regards the new phase which will be under my responsibility, it is clear to me that if we
are to get any fast movement towards a concensus,  what my predecessor said on 27 January remains
true that is we need to maintain the momentum in a more dynamic and intensive way than in the
previous stage.  In this regard the consultations in the coming phase will be different from the
previous ones in that more interactions among Members and between Members and candidates will be
necessary in order to bring new situations which wi ll lead to consensus.  I shall expect Members to
come to us for any useful information and in our own initiative we may approach Members for further
clarifications, but our guiding objective will be to build the necessary consensus around the mostacceptable candidate.  You will accordingly be notified in due course as to when, where and how
Ambassador Rossier and myself can be reached for these further consultations.
5. Ambassador Rossier and I will need to be reporting to the Council as fully and as frequently
as feasible but such reporting will only be useful if we detect significant development towardsconsensus or otherwise.  However, since we are managing a dynamic process, we cannot define
specific periodicity of such reporting.
6. It is the wish of every Member that this process is concluded as soon as possible since a delay
beyond April may bring the Organisation to a leadership crisis as Director General Ruggiero hasalready expressed his irrevocable decision to leave at the end of his mandate in April.  In the
circumstances, although it may be prudent not to specify another deadline which we may yet again
fail to fulfill, it is most desirable if we could aim at resolving this matter soonest, but not later than the
end of March.
Let me conclude by reminding Members what my predecessor and our facilitators have often
stated, that the election of the new Director General is a member driven process.  It is Members whowill expedite the process and it is Members who will slow or stall the process.  It is not the Chairman
and/or the facilitator.  Eventually of course, it is Members who will elect the Director General.  It is
not the Chairman and/or the facilitator.  Ambassador Rossier and I may be facilitative or instrumental,
but the decisive role has to be played by Members themselves.  During my consultations, I was
alarmed by the widespread expression of confidence in me and that because I am now the Chairman,things will move and the solution is near at hand.  This is very scaring because although Africa is
sometimes associated with '"black magic", I am not a magician.  Indeed, I am neither a Hercules nor
am I a Solomon!!  I should not be expected to conjure a solution from the sky - the solution must
come from you Members.  Of course I know it is th e institution of the Chairman which is being relied
on, but for that institution to deliver the person who occupies it needs the collective support and trustof all the Members, and it is this support and trust that I once again ask from you.  Together we shall,
and indeed we must, resolve this matter.
__________