. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/127
17 December 1998
(98-5085)
Original:  English
GENERAL COUNCIL
Informal Meeting held on 2 December 1998
Statement by Egypt
I would like, after listening attentively to the report of the two Ambassadors read by
Ambassador Rossier, the so-called facilitators for the selection of the Director-General, to thank him
and to express appreciation for the information which he has provided us about the outcome of the
consultations which took place between them and th e available Heads of Delegation.  It is clear from
the succinct and the very clear exposé of Ambassador Rossier that not all WTO Members have been
consulted, and arrangements had been made in order to allow for Members of WTO who have notbeen consulted to convey the positions of their capitals to them.  Mr Chairman, we have full
confidence in Ambassadors Lafer and Rossier, and thank them for the report, which you called a
progress report.  This is the understanding I got from the listening to this report, in which Ambassador
Rossier projected intensive consultations with a view to reaching a consensus by mid-December.
I would like Mr Chairman, to briefly say that to me there were two qualifications which were
reflected in the consultations on the new Director-General - competence and high quality.  Assuredly,
this is also our understanding.  We added to them independence and fairness for any new Director-
General to be in that very important place in the future of the multilateral trading system.
Mr Chairman, my delegation has indicated before that we have agreed on a deadline that is the end of
November.  I think that the dates were very clear, and we asked the two facilitators to give us progress
reports, having in mind that the deadline is the end of November.  But in the meantime, Mr Chairman,my delegation made it clear in my previous interventions in the formal meetings of the General
Council that we are abiding by the rules which we have agreed on in the WTO Agreement, that is that
we will continue the practice of decision-making by consensus as followed under GATT 1947, and
where a decision cannot be arrived at by consensus, the matter at issue will be decided by voting.
These are the rules, and in fact the General Council has no authority to change the rules.  Otherwise it
would be an amendment to the Agreement which we have adhered to and which our legislators have
ratified.  So we are not here to say that where there is a majority we change the rules.  The rules are
there and the majority has no right to change the rule s.  So the rule as it is reflected in Article IX
should be enforced, should be respected by all of us.  We are bound by that rule.  My delegation said
without any challenge, in the informal meeting, that by the deadline that is the end of November, if we
cannot reach consensus, according to the rule it is allowed that we resort to a vote, and I think this
way is a democratic way.  This is a democratic play, but we use it not in each and every case.  We use
it here for the election of the Director-General, which is not a day-to-day affair.  We have lots of
things on our agenda, but in this case we try to find a candidate who would command a consensus,
and if we cannot reach that, in order to avoid any pressures and also in full respect of the democraticplay, we then have to resort to voting according to the rules.  I wanted to remind you Mr Chairman,
and I would like also to remind the two colleagues Ambassadors Lafer and Rossier of the same thing,
which has been transmitted to them in the closed informal consultations.  These are the remarks which
I have to make at this point, but when I say that we should try to reach a decision on this very
important subject-matter by consensus, if we fail to do so by the deadline we must resort to voting.  InWT/GC/W/127
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extending the agreed deadline of end-November to mid-December we must keep in mind the rule on
decision-making as reflected in Article IX of the WTO Agreement.
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