./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/M/68
14 August 2001
(01-4007)
General Council
31 July 2001
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held in the Centre William Rappard
on 31 July 2001
Chairman:  Mr. Stuart Harbinson (Hong Kong, China)
Subjects discussed: Page
1. Election of Vice-Chairpersons of the Fourth Session of the Ministerial
Conference..................................................................................................................... ............1
2. Request by Thailand for a waiver of the requirements of Article 5.2 of the
TRIMs Agreement ................................................................................................................ ....1
3. Logistical preparations for the Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference ...................2
(a) Announcement by the Director-General.....................................................................................2
1. Election of Vice-Chairpersons of the Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference
1. The Chairman recalled that at the meeting of the General Council on 18-19 July 2001 he had
announced that he would continue consultations on the three Vice-Chairpersons of the Fourth
Ministerial Conference to be selected from Africa, Europe and Latin America.  The General Councilhad agreed to revert to this matter at the presen t meeting.  On the basis of consultations held he
proposed to elect as Vice-Chairpersons of the Fourth Ministerial Conference:  The Hon. Tebelelo
Seretse, Minister for Trade, Industry, Wildlife and Tourism of Botswana;  H.E. Mr. Kimmo Sasi,
Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade of Finland; and Dr. Adalberto Rodriguez Giavarini,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Argentina.
2. The General Council so agreed.
2. Request by Thailand for a waiver of the requirements of Article 5.2 of the TRIMs
Agreement (G/C/W/276/Rev.1)
3. The Chairman drew attention to the request from Thailand for a waiver of the requirements of
Article 5.2 of the TRIMs Agreement (G/C/W/276/Rev.1).
4. Mr. Major (Hungary), Chairman of the Coun cil for Trade in Goods, reporting on the
consideration by the Council of this request, said that the Council had amended the operative
paragraph 3 of the draft decision, third line, to read "internal or external" instead of "internal and
external".  The Council had agreed to forward th e draft decision to the General Council for adoption.WT/GC/M/68
Page 2
5. The General Council took note of the report, and in accordance with the Decision-Making
Procedures under Articles IX and XII of the WTO Agreement agreed in November 1995 (WT/L/93),
adopted the draft decision in G/C/W/276/Rev.1 as amended.1
3. Logistical preparations for the Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference
(a) Statement by the Director-General
6. The Director-General, speaking under "Other Business", said he had to report again on the
enormous pressure in terms of available rooms in Doha and reiterated the importance of receiving, as
soon as possible, information concerning official delegations to the Ministerial Conference.  He was
grateful to the host country for its efforts in the organization of the Conference.
7. He recalled that the deadline for Members to return their registration forms and give
information concerning their delegation to Doha was Tuesday, 31 July and that at the General Council
meeting on 18 July he had made a special plea that in the event Members were unable to provide thefull information requested by the 31 July deadline,  it was crucially important that they give some
indication as to the size of their delegation.  He had also appealed to Members to exercise the greatest
possible restraint in deciding the size of their delegation and had added that he could not rule out the
possibility that discussions might have to take place among Members to decide on more radical means
to achieve the right balance.  That possibility remained.  At present, information had been receivedfrom 68 Members.  While the picture was incomplete, it was clear that the accommodation
requirements of Members would be considerable.  It was also clear that limits would have to be
imposed on other categories of attendees to the Ministerial Conference.  He therefore appealed again
to Members to provide the information requested.
8. He also reminded Members of the agreed procedures for processing non-governmental
organizations' applications to attend the Ministerial Conference.  On Friday, 3 August a document
would be circulated to Members containing a list of NGOs eligible for registration to the Conference.
This list would be provided to Members for information.  Subsequently, on Friday 10 August, NGOs
would be advised and registration forms would be sent.  NGOs would have to complete and return the
forms by 17 September.  Confirmation of registration would be sent to NGOs as from 1 October.  Itwas already evident that the number of NGOs wanting to attend Doha was considerable and that
certain strict limits would have to be imposed.
9. The General Council took note of the statement.
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1 The Decision was subsequently circulated in WT/L/410.