RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/BFA/40
5 July 1999
(99-2833)
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 16 JUNE 1999
1. The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on 16 June 1999 under the
chairmanship of Ms. Dubois-Destrizais  of France.  The terms of reference and composition of theCommittee are set out in document WT/L/44/Rev.1.  The Agenda contained in document
WTO/AIR/1106 was adopted with two additional points from the Delegations of Haiti and
Guatemala on the funding of the participation of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the 1999
Ministerial Conference in Seattle and the WTO parking facilities respectively.  In response to a point
raised by the Delegation of the United Kingdom regarding Technical assistance, the Chairpersonindicated that this item would be taken up at a later meeting.
I. ADMINISTRATIVE UP-DATES AND PROGRESS REPORTS AS AT 31 MAY 1999
A. CASH SITUATION AND STATEMENT OF OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS
(CRP(99)10 AND WTO/BFA/SPEC/33)
B. INSTALMENT PAYMENTS FOR COUNTRIES IN ARREARS (CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM 1987 (CRP(99)11)
C. CONTRIBUTIONS OF OBSERVER COUNTRIES TOWARDS THE COST OF SERVICES
PROVIDED BY THE SECRETARIAT (CRP(99)12)
5. The Secretariat presented reports on the cash situation and statement of outstanding
contributions as at 31 May 1999, the instalment payments for countries in arrears, and the
contributions of Observers countries towards the cost of services provided by the Secretariat.  The
total contributions received amounted to CHF 76,969,776, and the Working Capital Fund stood at
CHF 7,570,931.  As of 31 May 1999, there were three Members in Category I, seven in Category II,while in Category III there were two, and in Category IV, seventeen.  Bolivia and Cameroon had
made payments in May and liquidated all their arrears and were no longer listed in the Administrative
Measures.  In the context of the instalment payment for countries with contributions in arrears
(contributions for 1987 and earlier years), Ghana had paid all arrears.
6. The delegate of Turkey reported that his Government would make payments to liquidate its
arrears at its next budgetary cycle.
7. The Committee took note of the reports.
II. FINAL POSITION OF 1998 BUDGET
8. A member of the Secretariat introduced the document WT/BFA/W/33, Final Position of the
1998 Budget.  He recalled that last September, when the Committee examined the Performance
Against Budget report, a budgetary deficit of CHF 3.2 Million was anticipated.  At the request of theWT/BFA/40
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Committee, the Director-General indicated that he would do his utmost to reduce the deficit by
CHF 1 million.  This was attained and the budgetary deficit at the end of 1998 stood at
CHF 2.2 million.
9. Turning to the Surplus Account, the Secretar iat provided information on all its elements
which included the uncovered balance of the accumulated deficit at the end of 1997, the repayment to
the Working Capital Fund, the write-off of irrecoverable invoices, the decrease of provision for
contributions in arrears and the contribution assessed on a New Member, the excess of actual
miscellaneous income over estimated miscellaneous income, and the 1998 budgetary deficit.  The
surplus at 31 December 1998 amounted to CHF 6,485,316.  Proposals for the use of this surplus will
be made in the midst of the presentation of the year 2000 budget.
10. The total overall expenditure of the Organization in 1998 amounted to CHF 128,359,044.
Expenditure incurred for the annual budget of the WTO amounted to CHF 118,177,755, while
expenditure against various trust funds was CHF 5,856,822.  Expenditure under other funds
(Appellate Body Operating Fund, Fund for Actuarial Studies, Special Fund for the WTO Programme
for Technical Assistance, Ministerial Conferen ce Operating Fund, the Fund to Facilitate the
Participation of Least Developed Countries in the Geneva Ministerial Conference and 50th
Anniversary Commemoration) amounted to CHF 4,324,467.  The total budgetary deficit of
CHF 2.2 million was the net result of overspending of CHF 6,951,605 and under-spending of
CHF 4,711,023.  A budgetary saving of CHF 42,000 wa s recorded in the Appellate Body and its
Secretariat.  Details of the over-expenditures in the WTO budget were outlined in paragraph 6.Approximately 71 per cent of it was due to costs for (i) translators, (ii) interpreters, (iii) text
processing personnel, (iv) reproduction of documents, (v) Dispute Settlement Panels, and (vi) the
1998 Geneva Ministerial Conference and 50
th Anniversary Commemoration.
11. With regard to the income budget, the Secretariat provided information on the Early Payment
Encouragement Scheme and noted that since the beginning of its implementation an amount of
CHF 5.4 million will have been returned to the WTO Members after taking into account of
CHF 363,678 earned in 1998.
12. The principal of the Working Capital Fund amounted to CHF 7.5 million at
31 December 1998.  This increase was made up of an advance by a new WTO Members as well as
interest earned in 1998.
13. Further, the Secretariat drew the attention of the Members to Annex D which for the second
time provided information concerning the functional budget.
14. In reply to a query, the Secretariat informed the Members that preliminary discussions were
held with the External Auditors with a view to the possibility of combining the Final Position Paper
with the Director-General’s Financial Report.  The Members would be kept informed on the matter.
15. The Committee recommends to the General Council to approve the transfer between WTO
budgetary sections as mention in paragra ph 27 of document WT/BFA/W/33 amounting to
CHF 4,604,427 and between Appellate Body budgetary sections as mention in paragraph 41
amounting to CHF 71,451 which are necessary in order to cover excess expenditure over approved
appropriations.
III. MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION TO THE WTO BUDGET
16. The chairperson referred to document WT/BFA/W/35 concerning the draft recommendation
on reducing of the minimum contribution to the WTO budget from 0.03 per cent to 0.015 per cent.
One Member indicated that his country could, in principle, join in the consensus in favour of the
recommendation to reduce the minimum contribution to 0.015 per cent.  However, the country’sWT/BFA/40
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definitive position on the proposal would be possibl e only in connection with consideration of the
overall WTO budget situation for 2000.  As such, while his Government had no objection to the use
by the Secretariat of the 0.015 per cent figure for purposes of preparing the budget and proposed
Member assessments for the Committee’s considera tion in autumn, his Government could not agree
to forwarding the proposed decision in document  WT/BFA/W/35 to the General Council for action in
July.
17. The Committee noted that a consensus to pass from 0.03 per cent to 0.015 per cent as the
minimum contribution, with exception of the rese rvation expressed by the one Member mentioned
above, was reached and that the Secretariat should use the minimum contribution of 0.015 per cent for
preparation of the 2000 budget estimates and proposed Members’ assessments.  The Chairperson, in
her oral report to the General Council in July, would mention the issue and the outcome.
IV. DOCUMENTATION
18. A member of the Secretariat introduced document CRP(99)13 and recalled that, due to over-
expenditure in 1997 in mailing, the Committee requeste d the Secretariat to look into the matter.  The
present document was the updating of the report on the mailing system presented last year.  In order to
reduce the costs related to document reproduction and mailing, the Secretariat would, inter alias,
review the list of mailing to identify the real need and inform delegations of the possibilities of having
access to documentation in electronic form.
19. A Member suggested that private addressees such as journalists, non-governmental
organizations, and professors, and libraries be informed that as the WTO documents could be
obtained through electronic mail, every effort should be made to reduce the mailing of printed
documents.  Another Member indicated that, while agreeing to the principle that documents should
not be automatically sent, Members should be able to receive copies according to their needs.
20. The Secretariat indicated that it would proceed with the exercise of writing to delegations and
other addressees, taking into account the points raised and suggestions made in the Committee.
V. PUBLICATIONS
21. At the request of one Member, the Secretariat had prepared the document CRP(99)15 on
publications for discussion and recalled that the policy on the free distribution of publications
established by the Publications Committee in 1997 had been approved by the WTO Management
Committee in early 1998.
22. A Member requested adjustment to the policy of providing to Members only two free copies
of each print publication.  In his opinion, Members should have as many copies as required without
charge, so that officials in the Capitals could better understand the WTO.  Another Member suggested
that Members who required more than two copies should inform the Secretariat and the matter could
be reviewed in light of the additional demand.
23. The Committee took note of the report and the comments from the Members and the matter
would be reviewed again at the next meeting in light of the additional demand requested by Members.
VI. PERSONNEL QUESTIONS
24. A member of the Secretariat gave an oral report on the development of the personnel policy in
terms of classification and budget.  He indicated that, following the last meeting, consultations had
been held with the Members and as a result, the new job classification with ceiling grade had been
abandoned.  At present, the former system of job classification and promotions were in place.WT/BFA/40
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25. Another member of the Secretariat gave an oral report on the WTO Pension Plan.  Since the
last report on 22 April 1999, the Management Board of the Pension Plan had met on three occasions.
The Board had agreed on a short list of banks to be invited to bid for overall safekeeping of the Plan’s
assets and had virtually finished consideration of the investment strategy that aimed to achieve the
actuarially required real rate of return of 3.5 per cent.  These issues would be decided at the Board’snext meeting on 18 June along with other outstanding actuarial matters in the Plan Regulations.  A
decision on the global custodian was expected to be taken on 14 July 1999 and the selection of fund
managers in September 1999, with the investment strategy being launched in October.  It was hoped
to complete the process of the reconciliation of individual files and the determination of the accrued
rights of each participant transferring from the UNJSPF in the course of this summer.  The Committee
would be kept informed on the matter.
26. The Committee took note of the oral reports.
VII. REPORT ON MEDICAL SERVICE
27. A member of the Secretariat introduced CRP(99)14 concerning the Joint Medical Service
available at the WTO and drew the attention of the Members to the result of the investigations on
alternative medical service that the Secretariat had undertaken.  At present, it was not possible to have
detailed information with regard to the overall im pact of the WIPO experience in setting up its own
medical service.
28. Some Members sought clarification on the statistics on medical activities provided by the
Joint Medical Service in the WTO.
29. The Committee took note of the comments from the Members and would revert on the matter
at the next meeting when further information and clarification on the statistics would be provided.
VIII.  COMMUNICATION FROM NICARAGUA
30. A delegate from Nicaragua took the floor and recalled the speech that he made on
19 March 1999 and requested the Committee to consider the cancellation of all debts of Nicaragua to
the WTO and the creation of a contingency fund, made up of contributions from donor Members, to
support countries that were unable to pay their contributions due to exceptional circumstances.
31. Some Members were concerned that the cancellation of the debts at this conjuncture would
create a precedent.  As Nicaragua was not listed under the Administrative Measures, it was felt that
there was no urgency for decision on the matter.
32. The Committee took note of the communication from Nicaragua and the comments from the
Members would revert to the matter.
IX. OTHER BUSINESS
PARTICIPATION OF LDCs IN THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE IN SEATTLE
33. The delegate of Haiti requested the Committee to seek ways and means to fund the
participation of the LDCs in the 1999 Ministerial Conference in Seattle.  The host country of the
Seattle Ministerial Conference indicated that it would fund the accommodation costs of a Minister andone high official of the LDCs at the Conference.  It was noted that the matter would be discussed at
the General Council in mid July.WT/BFA/40
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PARKING FACILITIES
34. The delegate of Guatemala took the floor and indicated that it was difficult to find parking
space when his Ambassador comes to attend meetings in the WTO.  He requested consideration of a
proposal to reserve a parking space for ambassadors and heads of delegations.  The Secretariatindicated that there were approximately 600 parking space, of which 200 were around the building of
the Centre William Rappard, most of them already reserved for delegations when meetings were held.
There were around 400 more in the parking lot in the Chemin des Mines of which delegations could
also use.  The Chairman indicated that the Comm ittee would come back to that matter at a future
meeting.
PRESENTATION OF TECHNICAL COOPERATION35. The Chairperson indicated that she had received a letter from the Chairperson of the
Committee on Trade and Development requesting that the Technical Co-operation Division make a
presentation to the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration similar to that made to the
Committee on Trade and Development.  She indicated that arrangements would be made as soon aspossible to discuss this issue.
X. ITC BUDGET FORECAST
36. A member of the Secretariat recalled the procedure on the presentation of the ITC budget
estimates as agreed in 1998.  The ITC was to present its budget estimates in Swiss francs to the WTO
in May for approval in October after presentation of a more detailed budget.  The parameters used for
the calculations for the estimates were to be agreed jointly with the WTO and the UN.
37. The Deputy Executive Director of the ITC then presented the outline of the budget estimates
for the year 2000.  The proposed budget outline amounted to CHF 29,516,000 representing a real
growth of 1.4 per cent and was based on parameters agreed jointly by the WTO and the UN
Secretariats.  After deducting the miscellaneous income, the WTO contribution was estimated to
CHF 14,555,500.  The requested increase of 1.4 per cent was in line with that of the area of
international co-operation for deve lopment within the United Nations’ Medium Term Plan for 1998-
2001.  Since 1995, requests for assistance relating to the multilateral trading system had dramatically
increased.  In addition, ITC ran the Administrative Unit of the Inter-Agency Working Group of the sixcore organizations overseeing the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Assistance to Least
Developed Countries (IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank and WTO), and acted as Fund
Administrator and co-ordinator for the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme or JITAP,
implemented by ITC, WTO and UNCTAD, currently being implemented in eight African countries.
38. In reply to a query, the ITC representative indicated that in terms of staff, the increase
concerned two professional posts.
39. The Chairperson invited the ITC to attend the forthcoming meeting on the Technical
Assistance Co-operation, planned for early July (see paragraph 35).
40. The Committee took note of the budget estimates.
POINT FOR DECISION: Paragraph 15
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