RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/186  
 
10 July 2020 
(20-4669) Page: 1/11 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration    
 
REPORT OF THE MEETIN G HELD ON 3 JUNE  2020 
 
The Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA) met on 3 June  2020. His Excellency 
Ambassador Manuel Teehankee  (Permanent Representative of Philippines  to the WTO ), welcomed 
Members to the meeting. He expressed gratitude  to his predecessor for his stewardship of the 
Committee to March 2020.  
 
The Chairman recalled that he had  presented the proposed agenda items for the meeting during the 
virtual informal meeting on 19 May subsequent to which the agenda, with reference 
WTO/AIR/BFA/37 , the annotated agenda bearing the reference JOB/BFA/42  and the technical note 
on logistical access to the virtual meeting were released .  
The Chairman added that , while brevity of interventions was desir able, he would be  lenient to enable  
delegations to take their time for interventions given that the timing for each delegation may be 
different based on the agenda item being discussed.  
As there were no requested items u nder "Other Business" , the agenda as set out in document 
WTO/AIR/BFA/37  was adopted .  
 
1  2018 -19 ANNUAL REPOR T ON GRADING STRUCTU RE – WT/BFA/W/5 16 
 
1.1.  An Official of the Secretariat provided salient points on this topic . These included  the evolution 
of the staff  breakdown by grade and gender as well  recruitment activity.  
1.2.  The main conclusions were: (1) the number of professional staff continue d to increase at junior 
levels, specifically at Grade s 6, 7 and 8;  (2) the average grade for professional staff continue d to 
decrease ; and ( 3) recruitment activity has  been stable.  
1.3.  Turning to  Chart 1  of the document, the Official of the Secretariat highlighted the  peak periods 
of staff in each grade since 1995. She cited the  sharpest decline in peak p eriods as being  the number 
of staff in Grade 10 and that Grade 7 was at its highest point  to date . She  also showed the target 
number of staff for each grade . The Official of the Secretariat  presented similar statistics for support 
staff, giving the example that the peak for Grade 5 had been 98 whereas the  current number is 94. 
1.4.  The Official of the Secretariat  said the  number of female professionals surpass ed that of male  
professional staff,  specifically at Grade 6 and Grade 9 . She added that female staff  members  at 
Grade 9 had increased from 57 in 2017 to 61 ; and from 23 in 2017 to 28 at Grade 8 ; and that there 
were 6 female Directors at the end of 2019.  
1.5.  A total of 61 vacancies  were issued  in 2019  of which 40 were for professional positions  and 21 
for support positions.  
1.6.  A Member asked for the state of play regarding a commitment that the Secretariat  had made 
in 2018 to review  job profiles  in due course.   
1.7.  A Member commended the Director General for the progress made in addressing the inverted 
pyramid structure that previously existed in the  grading structure.  With reference to Chart 1, the 
Member asked  if it was possible for similar chart s to be prepared by Division so that Members can 
graphically  see the distribution of grades .  WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  1.8.  The Member added that his delegation had noted that close to 10% of the current st aff are 
funded by extra -budgetary trust funds. He added that it could be expected that most of those staff 
are in the  EIF and ITTC  and asserted that th e use of extra -budgetary funded staff seems  to be 
widespread across many divisions.  
1.9.  With respect to Char t 5 the Member  asked if it would  be possible to see a graph that combines 
staff funded by the regular budget and staff funded by extra -budgetary funds,  at the level of 
divisions. Referring to Chart 6  he asked for  additional information that would help Memb ers reconcile 
the accounting by fixed  term, short -term, and Young Professional categories with the various extra -
budgetary funds that are designed to hire individuals .  
1.10.   In response to a question by the Member, a n Official of the Secretariat said "project p osts" 
are fixed term appointments that are limited to a maximum  of three  years. He added  that 
recruitment to this category includes incumbents passing a competitive selection process , mainly at  
grades 6 and 7.  
1.11.   DDG Brauner clarified that interns are not em ployees of the Organization. He said that they 
cannot be seen as increasing staff numbers as they are being offered training and are not normal 
members of the workforce.  
1.12.   A Member asked that the numbers for internal staff mobility for p revious years be shown in 
order to show the trend . The Member further asked that the distinct  separations due to summary 
dismissal and end of contract  be shown to clarify the 7.2% attributed to these forms of separation.  
In response, a n Official of the Sec retariat said that  as no appointments had been terminated in 2019, 
he said the 7.2% represents the end of contracts.  
1.13.    The Chairman commented that he had taken note of the suggestions and said the Secretariat 
would get some work done  on this basis .  
1.14.   DDG Bra uner stated that w hen the Director -General assumed his role , he had found an 
inverted pyramid grade structure and he  had made his efforts of turning it back on its base. He said 
that this was more visible at g rade 10 where numbers had reduced from 118  to 77. He noted that 
this was done under a  zero nominal growth budget.  
1.15.   A Member said her delegation appreciates the continued restrictive approach regarding  
promotions. She said the total of 35 promotions on a competitive basis in 2018 and 2019 together 
prove s that the WTO Secretariat can offer prospects for promotion without needing to resort to the 
instrument of "in situ " promotions.   
1.16.   In addition , the Member  recall ed the commitment made by the Secretariat in 2018 to resume 
"in due course " the practice to generate job profiles as a precondition to assess ing tasks in an 
objective way  and asked for the state of play in this regard.  In response , an Official of the Secreta riat 
said that benchmarks had been created  in cases where they did not previously exist.  
1.17.   The Secretariat  took note of the comments  and said that it would follow up on the  requested  
additional  information in a future report .  
1.18.   The Committee took note of the report.  
2  COHERENCE IN THE EST ABLISHMENT AN D MANAGEMENT OF TRUST  FUNDS  – 
WT/BFA/W/ 522 
2.1.  The Chairman said that this agenda item i s covered by the document WT/BFA/W/522  and is a 
follow up to WT/BFA/W/514 , which was discussed by the Committee on 9 March. The Chairman 
added that another relevant paper is  WT/BFA/INF/9 . 
2.2.  An Official of the Secretariat highlighted the following three aspects as important in bringing  
coherence to the management  of trust funds : (1) ensure plans for implementation , based on 
consultations with beneficiaries and contributors; (2) transparency through regular reporting; and 
(3) mechanisms or periodic follow -up reporting on results.  WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  2.3.  The Official of the Secretariat added that Members' comments suggest tha t there would a 
preference to avoid an unnecessary proliferation of trust funds  and that contributions  to be made 
through existing trust funds should be encouraged. He added that Members, without seeking to 
micro -manage voluntary contributions or trust fun d activities, called for oversight linked to an 
appropriate committee.  
2.4.  The Official of the Secretariat suggested that, as there is broad  support for the ITTC model , 
this could be used as a framework or guide. In this regard,  most voluntary contributions and the 
underlying activities would be incorporated into the administrative oversight of the ITTC and into 
the Biennial T echnical Assistance  Plans .  
2.5.  He said there is recognition that some  voluntary contributions , that emerged in re cent years 
and their subsequent activities and projects , have a policy and research orientation  and do not 
necessarily provide  direct technical assistance , hence do not fit into the ITTC model . For these, the 
Secretariat is assessing a new mechanism to bri ng more consistency and coherence to how these 
initiatives are managed. This would encompass s ufficient planning, regular reporting and monitoring 
of the funds.  
2.6.  The Official of the Secretariat stated that  the Trade Facilitation Agreement  Facility is an 
established trust fund with most of the characteristics of ITTC funds except for a clear mechanism 
for oversight by Members via a committee. Therefore, the intention of the Secretariat will be for this 
trust fund's  workplans and annual reporting to be presen ted in the Trade Facilitation Committee  to 
bring additional transparency and oversight.  
2.7.  A Member advocated for  fewer funds as these mean less  administrati ve costs. She said ITTC 
should have the overview and the coordination  of trust funds  so that the effect of the technical 
assistance and capacity building can be properly monitored and evaluated. The Member stated that 
even though the STDF and the TFAF have other  solutions , her delegation is not supportive of having 
many ad -hoc arrangements.  
2.8.  A Member asked if Members should, in the longer term,  have a discussion on whether technical 
assistance and capacity building should be covered by the WTO general budget rather than being 
dependant on funding from Trust Funds. Regarding the document WT/BF A/INF/9  the Member said 
there would be need for more elaboration  and an assessment to see if there is potential for micro -
management and administrative burden as projects are discussed individually.  
2.9.  Several Members  said that the principles  given for trust funds: avoiding proliferation ; 
Committee oversight ; and no micro -management  are good and expressed s upport  for a coordinating 
role for the ITTC , making use of the Biennial Technical Assistance Plan.  
2.10.   A Members said that t echnical assistance must mainly be  demand -driven and not so much 
donor -driven. The Member called for a better categorization of activities that would  consider  the 
support of valuable bilateral organisations and bilateral development cooperation. He said th at the 
model of the STDF could be inspiring in this regard , to link the support at the WTO with substantive 
support available elsewhere.  
2.11.   A Member said that e xtra-budgetary trust funds are not all the same, and that it is evident 
that their nature has shift ed over time, largely without Member engagement in that shift. He added 
that there are approaches to utilizing trust funds within the WTO that do not raise concerns and said 
that the use of such trust funds should be promote d or require d. At the same time,  the Member 
noted that some approaches are highly problematic by their very design, and Members should be 
more explicit in prohibiting their use and proliferation.  
2.12.   The Member said there is a new generation of funds  that have drifted from the consensus 
approach. He said his delegation welcome s the opportunity to discuss in depth the common principles  
laid out in the paper . He continued  that if contributions can be  limited and  restricted to only those 
vehicles that fit into the established technical assistan ce model at the WTO, then additional rules to 
discipline exceptions  would not have to be developed . He said there is broad -based Member support 
across the organization for technical assistance and capacity building that supports full participation 
by all M embers in the global trading system.  WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  2.13.   Mentioning that his delegation has long been a contributor to the Global Trust Fund, the 
Member acknowledged that WTO Members have reinforced institutional linkages with other 
organizations in clear recognition that th e WTO is not designed to be a front -line development 
assistance provider and should not carry the burden of trade -related technical assistance on its own. 
He said there are ways to improve and enhance WTO technical assistance within the established 
WTO TA model that recognizes the strengths and limitations of the Secretariat staff, including the 
Secretariat 's responsibility to remain objective, impartial and neutral.  
2.14.   The Member said e xamining and improving Financial Regulation 19 may be a useful first step  
and that the regulation can be strengthened to facilitate contributions to ITTC -managed technical 
assistance, while at the same time providing clarity and comfort to Members that contributions 
cannot be used for purposes that are not fully understood or sh ared by all Members.  He called  on 
Members that believe there is a need for trust funds  outside the TA Plan to explain the motivations 
behind their thinking that these funds must be housed in, and staffed by, the WTO Secretariat.  
2.15.   The Member said Article VI of the Marrakesh Agreement sets out expectations for the WTO 
Secretariat, particularly safeguarding the posit ion of the Secretariat as impartial and accountable to 
the entire Membership. He said Article VI.4 reads  that in the discharge of their duties, the Director -
General and the staff of the Secretariat shall not seek or accept instructions from any Government  
or any other authority external to the WTO. He said the  establishment of specific trust funds designed 
to implement the priorities of donor governments unfairly places the Secretariat staff in a difficult 
position. In particular when these funds subsequent ly establish a distinct institutional identity that 
is then managed independently for public consumption , through newsletters, press releases, 
branded events , and separate websites.  
2.16.   He said  Members should provide appropriate safeguards against this trend , either through 
clear financial regulations or mandatory procedural guidelines.  Regarding the document  
WT/BFA/INF/9 , the Member said the CDCRI pledge is open-ended and ambiguous in nature. He said 
at the time of acceptance of the funds, his delegation did  not understand how the Director -General 
met the attestation criteria set out in Financial Regulation 19  since there was no actual or conceptual 
project information included as a basis for any such determination . He stated that his delegation  
sees a signifi cant gap in both Financial Regulation 19 and in the Guidelines for Notification in 
W/INF/219.  
2.17.   A Member said that before starting such discussions on trust funds, it is critical for Members 
to have a common understanding of the purpose Members want to achie ve. She said that from her 
delegation's understanding, from their talks with beneficiaries of trust funds, as well as for her 
delegation's own experience of dealing with trust funds, it is clear that this organization needs more 
money for capacity building . The organization should not develop strange principles or restrictions 
that could discourage contributions.  
2.18.   The Member said if Members are to develop new principles, the intention should be to explore 
more resources which can serve the purpose of the WT O to meet the demands of developing 
members, especially LDCs,  for a better integration in the multilateral trading system. She said in 
recent years trade capacity building requirements have expanded and that almost all Members have 
been facing domestic bud get austerity when seeking extra contributions to the WTO. She noted that 
it is important to give clear detailed targets or even to specify the kinds of projects to be implemented 
through the Trust Funds if such kind of requests are made to the Governments  and finance people. 
She said the current Global Trust Fund makes it difficult for such requirements to be satisfied. She 
said, for developing countries like hers, which is also an official development assistance recipient, 
they must avoid mixing their Sou th-South Cooperation with a North -South cooperation.  
2.19.   The Member said her delegation generally supports the idea of coherence of management of 
trust funds and that  such coherence should refer more to principles such as transparency but not 
rigid requirements ask ing all the trust funds to follow the exact same procedures, nor even to limit 
contributions to existing trust funds.  
2.20.   The Member said, a s indicated in Financial Regulation 19, Trust Funds can only be accepted 
when the purpose for which the contributions are made are consistent with the policies, aims and 
activities of the WTO. She said trust funds are useful supplements for the WTO to fulfil its tasks. She 
said her delegation is not convinced that the involvement of the Secretariat in trust fund activities WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  should be regarded as an extra burden for the  Secretariat. Regarding a suggestion to  limit smaller 
trust funds  to CHF  2.5 million, the M ember said that there would be a need to  see detailed 
information on budget management cost  and the workload breakdown details of management team 
and each team member.  
2.21.   The Member said that for specific China funds and contributions, her delegation welcomed  the 
Secretariat having recirculated relevant documents on the China Development Cooperation Research 
Initiative (CDCRI), though her delegation had not been consulted for this to be recirculated as a 
formal document in advance. She said that, to her unders tanding, such circulation was the first to 
be done for a fund and she commended the efforts of the Secretariat to enhance the transparency 
of these funds including the previous circulation of the agreement signed between China and the 
Secretariat. The Memb er said that for China South -South Cooperation and assistance funds her 
country does not have limitations regarding the amount per project.  
2.22.   The Member said CDCRI itself  was not in the traditional way that people were familiar with 
but no doubt it could be  a good example to show that how the way of WTO trust fund establishment 
to follow up the changing world. Her delegation sees nothing wrong with a trust fund being approved 
before projects are determined just as that of Global Trust fund and other funds. S he said that a 
results -oriented approach should be adopted rather than any other approach. Citing the  ASYCUDA 
TIVA Database  project as an example, she said that the Secretariat has better coverage of the data 
of African Countries on trade and investment fo r analysis. She added that ASYCUDA also helps 
streamline procedures in data collection and processing which will lead to a meaningful outcome 
making this this project a good example to show that extra trust funds activities can enhance the 
Secretariat's ca pability in reducing the normal workload, rather than increasing the  Secretariat's  
burden.  
2.23.   The Member  said that having carefully examined the Trade Facilitation Agreement and talking 
with the  experts on trade facilitation agreements, her delegation found the questions raised on 
China's failure to submit notification confusing  as the TFA obligations of developed members is to 
notify bilateral technical assistance with that of the TFA Trust Fund. The questions raised are of the 
view that  China was a big contributor to TFA trust fund but never notified its technical assistance 
activities. She added that  the TFA relevant notification requirement was done before the idea of 
establishing the TFA funds and the notification obligation in the TF A is applied to the developed 
member of bilateral assistance activities and there are no compulsory obligations for developing 
members  to notify . She said  that as the TFA fund is a big pool, it is  also impossible for individual 
contributors to notify how t heir own money has been used and no such notification obligation has 
been set. She said the questions raised on China in previous CBFA meetings misinterpreted TFA 
texts.   
2.24.   A Member said trust funds should reconcile two principles : the free voluntary contributions of 
Members, which is something individual for each of the Members ; and  the interest of all Members 
of the WTO to see how the money is spent but also whether the contributions and the money spent 
are in line with the overall goal s of the organization.  
2.25.   Several M embers were supportive of the principle  that there should be no micro -management  
but added that Members  need to get information and know what  is going on  with trust funds .  
2.26.   A Member said his delegation agree s with other Members  who said that it is positive that the 
Members of the WTO make contributions but do not find it appropriate for Members to make 
individual contributions when it comes to the creation of trust funds. He said trust funds need to be 
multi-year in and multi do nor in nature , as fragmentation has bureaucratic burden for an 
organization and could move away  from the key objective of the WTO and move towards the 
administration of a political panorama of other objectives with allocation of resources which are not 
assigned to a specific objective . He suggested that funds  less than a  year should be discouraged.   
2.27.   Regarding the 13% programme support costs, the Member said it is important to find out 
what this does or does not cover.  
2.28.   A Member said his delegation  strongly supports the efforts to rationalize trust funds, including 
the efforts towards improving transparency and accountability . Acknowledg ing the importance of 
additional resources for supporting the work of the WTO , he said such  resources should be su bject WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  to the same principles of accountability and transparency that traditional funds have been subject 
to. He appreciated that the document suggest ed solution s for addressing issues, which had been 
raised in previous CBFA meetings .  
2.29.   Expressing the hope that this openness from the  Secretariat on how to help Members resolv e 
these issues, the Member  urged other Members , particularly those wh ich contribute to the  newer  
trust funds , to show similar openness and a guarantee to transparency  and resolution of the  issues . 
He said that his c apital is still studying the document and that his delegation would present its views 
on the substantive aspects contained in the document  when the Committee resumes physical 
meetings . 
2.30.   Drawing a linkage to the paper, a  Member sai d her delegation sees space for enhancing 
strategic planning and horizontal coordination in the WTO  and said they l ook forward to more 
discussions that will help improve overall coherence and coordination in the organization. The 
Member h ighlight ed that, a t the previous CBFA  meeting,  her delegation  welcomed the suggestion 
for technical working groups for Members  to move issues forward and discuss and exchange views 
in a more in -depth manner  on certain topics . She expressed the h ope that this could take plac e 
either on this subject or Financial Regulation 19 or 10 or some the other issues that would come 
forward.  
2.31.   A Member said  voluntary contributions to activities within the mandate of the Organization 
should be welcomed. He said his delegation had previously  emphasized the need for greater 
transparency in how the newer trust funds are authorised and administered. He said the pa per is a 
partial recognition of this  and that t he principles therein contained are a good starting point. The 
Member  suggested that  further discussions could look at linkages with Financial Regulation 19. He 
said his delegation had  emphasized transparency and recall ed that they had submitted a paper 
entitled " Inclusive Approach to Transparency and Notification Requirements in the WTO" in which 
they advocate for transparency to define all activities of the WTO, including its financial regulation 
and manageme nt. 
2.32.   The Chairman thanked Members for their intervention s and the patience and cooperation of 
other delegations who patiently listened. He said that the Committee will revert to this matter at its 
meeting in  July. 
2.33.   The Secretariat thanked Members for their c omments and said that the Secretariat looks 
forward to further discussions on this topic.  
2.34.   The Committee  took note of the  paper . 
3  REPORTS FROM THE OFF ICE OF INTERNAL OVER SIGHT  – WT/BFA/W/515 AND 
WT/BFA/W/517   
3.1.  The Head of the Office of Internal Oversight  (OIO)  gave a brief introduction of the two reports , 
WT/BFA/W/515 and WT/BFA/W/517 . 
3.2.  Regarding the report on the status of internal audit recommendations and the 
recommendations from the evaluation report of WTO Trade -related Technical Assistance ( TRTA), the 
Head of the OIO said that as at 31 March 2020, 79% of the audit recommendations to the Secretariat 
had been implemented, 8% are in the process of implementation; and only 3% are still open. He 
added that 97% of the recommendations related to TRT A were closed and 3% are in the process of 
implementation.  
3.3.  The Head of the OIO stated that the audit of the appellate body members' and panellists' costs 
had been undertaken, at the request of the Director General. The purpose being to assist the 
Director -General in analysing the internal controls in place at the WTO for expenditure relating to 
appellate body members and panellists and to identify mitigating mechanisms, where necessary. He 
said the scope of the assessment was from January 2017 to e nd of October 2019.  
3.4.  The Head of OIO said that the audit was not intended to assess the efficiency and effectiveness 
of panel and appellate body proceedings; nor whether the current level of compensation of panellists WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  and appellate members is adequate. He a dded that the audit was not an investigation into any 
allegations of misconduct.  
3.5.  He said the OIO had found no major discrepancies in the review of appellate body members' 
and panel lists' expenditures and that the segregation of duties and internal controls  were generally 
adequate.  
3.6.  The Head of the OIO said his office had made 14 recommendations to further enhance the 
internal control mechanisms in place: seven  recommendations related to appellate body members 
and seven  recommendations related to panellists. He added  that the concerned Divisions had already 
implemented many of the recommendations.  
3.7.  On the remuneration package of appellate body members, a Member stated that her delegation 
noted the conclusion of the audit which reads  "based on the process review  and sample testing, the 
OIO considers that the segregation of duties and the internal controls in place at the WTO for 
processing Appellate Body members ' and Panellists' costs are generally adequate" . The Member said 
that her delegation hopes that the rep ort will be helpful in address ing the concerns raised on the 
Appellate Body during the budget discussions in 2019 .  
3.8.  Regarding the appellate body members' renumeration package, the Member reiterated that 
the WTO Secretariat should fully fulfil its obligation with the remaining appellate body member in 
accordance with the signed contract. She added that the cost of appellate body members, just li ke 
other budget issues, could and should be subject to vigorous  oversight by WTO Members but by no 
means should they be perceived or used as leverage to influence the Appellate Body because 
independence and impartiality are valuable but very susceptible to  these kinds of interference.  
3.9.  The Committee took note of the two reports.  
4  Q1 2020 B UDGET AND FINANCE REP ORT – WT/BFA/W/5 21 
4.1.  An Official of the Secretariat present ed the Budget and Finance Report for the first quarter of 
2020. 
4.2.  Contributions received as at the end of March 2020 were at a comparable level to those  
received at the end of March 2019. 54% of the assess ed contributions by Members were received 
and 30% of those pertaining to Observers . 
4.3.  There were 18 Members under Administrative Measures : six Members under Category I, 
four Members under Category II and eight Members under Category III. Subsequent to the issuance 
of the report, contribution s were received from Liberia and Tanzania.  
4.4.  Regarding Observers under Administrative Measures, two were under Category I, one under 
Category II and three  under Category III.  
4.5.  The overall expenditure rate, including some commitments posted for the whole year e.g. the 
outsourced security costs, cleaning, the International Computing Centre and the IT Service Desk, 
was 30% or CHF 60 Million at the end of March 2020.  
4.6.  The impact of cancellations of Travel and Hospitality  due to the COVID -19 pandemic  is not yet 
fully portrayed.   
4.7.  The Official of the Secretariat added the Appellate Body Operating Fund  balance as at 
31 December 2019 had been transferred to the overall budgetary surplus .  
4.8.  With reference to Table  7 a Member  asked what the expected expenditure for the 
Appellate  Body going forward the rest of this year  was? An Official of the Secretariat responded that 
as the pandemic  was declared in March , tickets  for travel and some activities had been cancelled. 
She said the second quarter  report would  provide updated figures . 
4.9.  A Member asked when the 2019 overall expenditu re would be reported to Members.  An Official 
of the Secretariat said the overall balance of the Appellate Body Operating Fund at the end of WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  December 2019, amounting to CHF 3.3 million has been transferred to miscellaneous income in the 
Financial Performanc e Report at the end of 2019. She said that the report is being audited and will 
be submitted in September, instead of June, because the auditors were impeded from coming for a 
final site visit to Geneva due to travel restrictions emanating from the pandemi c. 
4.10.   He sought clarification as to whether Table s 6 and 7  report  reflected both expected or 
obligated expenses, not actual expenses. He said that if this were the case, would Members receive 
a revised version of the table showing actual disbursements, not just those obligated or projected 
expenses . 
4.11.   A Member said at some stage, the Committee will have to investigate  how COVID -19 is going 
to impact the realisation of the budget for the rest of the year. He said that th is is even more relevant 
for the extra -budgetary funds  as the pandemic has  virtually disrupted all planned activities of the 
different trust funds , yet th e Secretariat is calling for renewed commitments on a multi -year basis . 
He suggest ed that  the report o f the second quarter  should include analyses on what the Secretariat 
expect s can be done during the rest of the year.  
4.12.   The Member recalled a suggestion , made in a previous meeting , for the CBFA Chair man to 
discus s, with the G eneral Council  Chair man, the possibility of reading out  the list of Memb ers and 
Observers under administrative  measures  at the beginning of the General Council meeting, not at 
the end. He also requested for clarification as to why the administrative measures  are under "Other 
Business".  
4.13.   In response, the Chairman of the CBFA said that he had taken note of this issue .  
4.14.   A Member said that his delegation expect s a backup plan for managing the unspent money 
for better operating the WTO. He expressed the hope that Members can be pragmati c and flexible 
when discussing the 2021 budget in order to  avoid a crisis akin to that faced in 2019. He said that 
the overriding element  is that the WTO can be as well prepared as possible to deal with the huge 
challenges of trade and the global economy . 
4.15.   Referring to f inancial expenditur e, a Member asked how much the organization is still  
spending on negative interest, especially given the current state of the economy . In response, an 
Official of the Secretariat said some investments in 2019 had  had a positive impact on the overall 
negative interest. She said that Secretariat negotiates frequently with banks and has some  holdings  
at 0%. She cautioned that the situation could evolve because  of the pandemic.  
4.16.   The Chairman said that the Committee takes no te of the report  and suggestions for enhanc ing 
future reports. He said that he would consult the Chairman of the  General Council Chair on the issues 
raised regarding administrative measures.  
4.17.   The Committee took note of the report.  
5  Q1 2020 EXTRA -BUDGET ARY FU NDS REPORT – WT/BFA/ W/520  
5.1.  An Official of the Secretariat  stated that the report is a regular administrative report. He added 
that the COVID -19 situation has disrupted the activities of trust fund s. He added that the  e-learning 
platform was instrumental und er the circumstances as a lot more courses  were offered remotely . 
5.2.  He said the projected expenditure and the year -end balance  for the Global Trust Fund have  
been declining for  a few year s. He added that the pipeline of qualified and desirable activities  for the 
STDF  exceeds the resources  and invited Members to continue contributing to these trust funds . He 
acknowledged receipts received after the report had been distributed. Specifically, Lichtenstein and 
the US had contributed to the Global Trust Fund a nd the UK had made contributions to the STDF.  
5.3.  Making reference to the call for additional contributions and the expenditure lag emanating 
from the COVID -19 pandemic, a Member said that  the report for the Quarter 2  should include 
information regar ding the effect of the COVID -19 pandemic on the expenditure rates of the different 
trust funds and analyses o f what the Secretariat expect can be done during the rest of the year  and 
in 2021 . WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  5.4.  A Member said it would be informative for  the extra -budgetary tr ust fund expenditure reports 
to contain more detail than just the aggregate level of disbursements  as this would provide Members 
with more information regarding how money is actually spent, and for what purpose. He said this 
would also help Members' unders tanding of whether the extra-budgetary funds are duplicative or 
complementary with other uses of WTO resources, and it would provide some assurances and 
oversight as to the purpose and nature of the trust funds' activities.  
5.5.  The Member asked for informatio n that supports how the WTO Accessions Internship Program 
supports acceding governments to participate in accession negotiations ; how many of these 
internships there are; and the Divisions in which the associated interns are placed. The Member 
further stat ed that Chart 6 of WT/BFA/W/516 indicates that there is only one young professional 
associated with the Accessions division  and he asked if this young professional  is funded by the 
China LDC program . 
5.6.  Referring to Tables 3 through 8  of WT/BFA/W/520 t he Member said the Secretariat's response 
to question 20 in WT/BFA/INF/6  was that  the 13% is only a "partial subsidy relative to the full cost 
of administering trust funds and implementing the activities". The Member asked if there is a way 
to include  a table showing the full cost to the regular budget of administering trust funds and 
implementing their activities so  Members could  evaluate the difference between the actual costs and 
the 13% overhead contribution . 
5.7.  The Member said it would b e useful to have a more complete breakdown of expenditures in 
Table  4 for the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility , including expenditures for the grant program, 
for salaries of the associated staff , both those funded by the trust fund and those funded by  the 
regular budget. He said Members should be provided with that information in the CBFA, where they 
are charged with the oversight and responsibility.  The Member said this fund was presented to 
Members as necessary to fill a gap in assistance provision a nd that its express purpose was to 
provide grants to Members otherwise unable to obtain assistance from international donors. He 
stated  that a fter six years it appears that no significant gap in coverage exists , yet the fund has 
nevertheless decided to und ertake other activities with these resources at the request and direction 
of the limited group of donors. He further stated  that this deviation from the agreed upon intention 
of the fund demonstrates the inability of the wider membership to control how ext ra budgetary trust 
funds operate once they are established.  
5.8.  For Table 14  the Member requested a separation of the expenditures between the "meeting " 
component and the "internship" component . He said T ables 18 and 19 appear to be duplicates yet 
have slightly different figures  and ask for this to be clarified.  
5.9.  For the EIF Graduation Fund  the Member asked  the Secretariat to provide additional 
information on why the WTO has accepted funds from UNOPS on behalf o f the EIF and why UNOPS 
did not just implement this on their own . He said it is unclear why trust funds are creating their own 
trust funds. He also asked why the EIF is reflected  in some Secretariat documentation as a WTO 
extra-budgetary trust fun d but is not reported on in quarterly reports  for extra -budgetary funds . 
5.10.   The Member asked why the duration of the WTO Fisheries LDCs Participation Fund continues 
to receive contributions in 2020 when at the outset the expected duration of the fund was less than 
a year. He enquired if the guidelines for notification provide for an additional notification to Members 
indicating the initial terms of establishment of the fund have changed.  
5.11.   A Member asserted that t he term "donors " in United Nations (UN) documents refers t o the 
providers of official development assistance who have the mandate to provide core contributions to 
developing members. She said that according to the OECD, the concept of official development 
assistance is defined as financial support on either grant s or concessional loans  from OECD 
development assistance committee member countries to promote economic development and 
welfare of developing countries and that, according to the UN resolution, developed members have 
the target of 0.7% of gross national pr oduct as official development assistance to developing 
members, which is the "gold standard " in international aid. She opined that when the word "donor" 
is used under development cooperation, it refers to developed countries who provide assistance to 
devel oping ones. She said such a concept is also fully reflected in the WTO Agreements. The Member 
continued that article 21.1 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement starts with “donor members” and 
continues with issues on donors’ obligations and article 21.1.(f) reads, "…encourage developing WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  country members to provide capacity building to other developing and least -developed country 
members and consider supporting such activities where possible…" and article 22.2 regulates the 
notification obligations, and also re fers to donor members and also later has a separate paragraph 
on developing members. She said her delegation had talked to the Secretariat about replacing the 
word "donor" with the word "contributor" before but unfortunately the word "donor" still appears in 
the document.  
5.12.   The Member took issue with the format for reporting the China Development Cooperation 
Research Initiative projects. This was a new type of contributions and people may be confused if a 
good report way cannot be given and only to use the ex isting format. She said this is one single 
fund with USD 8 million committed by China's Government and that the contribution will be 
transferred to the WTO on a project basis, not once at all. She said her delegation will continue to 
work with the Secretar iat to see how best to clearly and truly reflect this in reports. She said there 
is always a way to address technical issues, no matter how complicated they are.  
5.13.   She said if a certain Member is using everything even coherence of the trust funds as a tool 
to serve its domestic political aims, to question the intention of the contributors and even to question 
the Secretariat's impartiality and neutrality as a threat to the Secretariat, and it could be a disaster 
to the organization. She said if issues a re politicised and there is no good intention to solve them, 
there is no way to move forward.  
5.14.   A Member said that another Member, in  its earlier intervention  had indicated that  it had  looked 
into the issue of donor notifications in the Trade Facilitation Ag reement and had consulted experts. 
He said that he takes issue with that because the experts for interpretation of an agreement are the 
Members and so if the other Member consulted with the Trade Facilitation Agreement Fa cility as 
experts on the T rade Facility A greement , this signifies the ambiguous nature of these entities and 
the problematic position that they are in. Casting back to the negotiating history of the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement , the Member said that the text "developed countries" was in brackets and did 
not have consensus and the negotiated outcome for donor members was very specific and Members 
fully understood that if a Member contribute s money to technical assistance it is considered as a 
donor. He said all the developing countries or all the countries that were interested in obtaining 
technical assistance did not care whether a Member was  developed or developing  but rather  care 
whether  the Member had assistance programmes. He said that if a delegation has an issue with the 
interpretati on of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, it needs to come to the Committee.  He further 
stated that questions of interpretation should not be asked of the Secretariat staff that also manage 
a trust fund to which that M ember is a donor.   
5.15.   The Chairman recomme nded for the Members that were debating the aspects of the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement Fund to meet and discuss the matter  between them. 
5.16.   The Chairman  acknowledged the feedback from Members and said  improvement can only 
come with constructive critical read ing of reports and that the Secretariat ought to be pleased  that 
reports ha d been read with care and attention.  
5.17.   The Secretariat provided technical clarifications on tables 3 -8 and 18 and 19. Additionally, it 
took note of the comments and said it will foll ow-up on the remaining questions . 
5.18.   The Committee took note of the report .  
6  STRATEGIC FACILITIES  PLAN  – WT/BFA/W/ 508 
6.1.  An Official of the Secretariat said the aim of the Strategic Facilities Plan is to ensure the 
optimization of the WTO facilities  and serves as a guide to plan short and medium -term operations.  
6.2.  She stated that t he WTO is a single site  which  consists of seven buildings and one Chinese 
Guzu garden. She added that three  of the buildings and the garden belong to the WTO whilst the 
Salle William Rappard belongs to the FIPOI and the three  other buildings belong to the Republic and 
Canton of Geneva.  
6.3.  The Official of the Secretariat informed the Committee that capital expenditure related to the 
facilities had approximated CHF 2.2 million in 2 019, of which CHF 735,000  was covered by the WT/BFA/ 186 
 
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  Swiss  Confederation through the FIPOI.  She added that the planned expenditure for capital p rojects 
for 2020 -2021 a pproximates  CHF 3.1 million.  
6.4.  The Official of the Secretariat stated that the Building Renovation Fund is a vehicle to  finance 
renovation projects during the next  10 to 15  (medium -term)  and from 25 to 50 years ( long-term). 
She indicated that the FIPOI  gifts CHF 1.2 million per year to the WTO for capital expenditure 
pertaining to the CWR building and said the collaboration between the WTO and the FIPOI has been 
very satisfactory  and transparent . 
6.5.  DDG Brauner expressed appreciati on of the treatment accorded by the Swiss Government to 
the WTO . He said, at a conducive time, he would  invite the Committee for  a tour of the technical 
installations of the building. He recalled that a similar tour had been done a few years ago and that 
delegates had had the occasion to see  the heating, ventilation and air conditioning infrastructure as 
well as the  high-tech installation where the water from the lake is used for cooling and heating.  
6.6.  A Member complimented the Secretariat for the steps taken in environmental, electricity, 
heating, water and waste  management . He said this has led to cost reduction.  
6.7.  Sever al Members  express ed their appreciation to the Swiss Government for its financial support 
for the WTO premises . 
6.8.  A Member referred to a table depicting the carbon footprint  and said  his delegation is pleased 
that the Secretariat is participating in the "greening the blue" project of the U nited Nations . 
6.9.  The Member asked whether the ventilation system could  be a vector  of the COVID -19 virus in 
the meeting rooms . He said this information could be useful to prepare for a next phase of the 
pandemic  and better equ ip Members  and for social interaction.  
6.10.   An Official of the Secretariat responded that d uring the COVID -19 pandemic the Secretariat 
has taken measures to increase the air renewal ventilation.  
6.11.   The Chairman concluded on this agenda by requesting  update s on air  circulation and the filter s 
as this is of interest to Members, given the pandemic . On behalf of the Committee , he expressed  
appreciation to the Government of Switzerland for its hospitality and financial support . 
6.12.   The Committee took note of the Strategic Facilities Plan .  
7  CLOSING COMMENTS  
7.1.  The Chairman thanked Members for having active ly participat ed in the meeting  and said words 
of appreciation to the Interpreters. He also t hanked the CBFA team and other divisions who 
contributed reports and facilitated the  meeting.  
7.2.  The Chairman said that during the informal meeting on 19 May  he had taken  note of the 
comments by several delegations that the proposed financial regulation for the con tinuance of 
operations would be important for discussion . He added that  several Members had also called for 
discussion of the 2021 WTO budget  and the 2021 ITC bu dget. He said these topics would be 
consider ed during the  next meeting  of the Committee . 
7.3.  The Chairman announced that the next formal meeting of the CBFA will take place at 15h00 
on Tuesday 23  June.  He said additional information on this would follow.  
7.4.  The meeting was adj ourned. 
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