./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/16
6 January 2000
(00-0045)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third Session
Seattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  English
INTRODUCTION OF THE REPORT OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Statement by H.E. Mr. Ali Mchumo,
Chairman of the General Council
I have the pleasure of presenting to you today the 1999 Report of the General Council
adopted on 4 November 1999.  This report describes the activities of main WTO bodies and contains
information about their future work.
The work of the General Council has encompasse d two major areas:  the regular work of the
General Council and the preparations for the Seattle Ministerial Conference.
With regard to the regular work of the General Council I should like to make the following
comments:
(i) In line with the objective of making the WTO system truly universal, Members have
continued to devote particular attention to bringing new States into the WTO.  Latvia
and Estonia have become WTO Members, and three working parties have been
established by the General Council to examine the applications for accession that
have been submitted.  Moreover, the General Council considered the question of theprocess for accession to the WTO with a view to finding possible means for
accelarating it.
(ii) The General Council also granted or extended the time-limit for a number of waivers,
and in this context I would like to note in particular the adoption of the Decisionenabling developing-country Members to grant preferential treatment to products of
least-developed countries.
(iii) The General Council also continued its oversight role in the implementation of the
Work Programme on Electronic Commerce adopted in September 1998, and hassubmitted its conclusions to the Seattle Ministerial Conference on this matter as
reflected in the General Council's Annual Report on page 13.  Another area of work
during the year related to the aim of achieving greater coherence in global economic
policy-making.
(iv) Following a lengthy process, the General Council appointed the new Director-
General, an exercise which ultimately yielded two excellent leaders for this
organization:  Mr. Mike Moore, who will hold the post from 1 September 1999 to
31 August 2002, and Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will hold the post from
1 September 2002 to 31 August 2005.  May I also note that on 1 January 1999 an
independent WTO Secretariat was established, and a number of other administrative
steps were taken by the General Council in order to ensure the full effectiveness ofthe decision to establish an independent Secretariat.  The General Council alsoWT/MIN(99)/16
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considered the question of the WTO senior management structure and decided that a
review of the WTO Secretariat and senior management structure will be concluded by
the end of September 2000, in conjunction with the review of the current rules and
procedures for appointment of the Director-General.
(v) In recognition of the importance of enha ncing public understanding of the WTO and
the benefits of the multilateral trading sy stem, the General Council considered the
question of the promotion of the institutional image of the WTO.  I hope that the
further work decided by the General Council on this matter will contribute to a better
understanding of the positive role of the WTO in the multilateral trading system.
The preparations for the Seattle Ministerial Conference were a major focus of the work of the
General Council and were carried out on a parallel track to its regular work.  You will recall that in
May 1998, Ministers in Geneva decided that a process would be established under the direction of the
General Council to ensure full and fa ithful implementation of existing ag reements and to prepare for the
Third Session of the Ministerial Conference, and that the General Council would submit
recommendations regarding the WTO's work programme  that would enable Ministers to take decisions
at this Session.  Despite extensive efforts through informal consultations on the wide array of proposals,
it has not proved possible to produce a comprehensive consensus text which I could submit to this
Ministerial Conference.  The only text which is av ailable is the text I circulated on 19 October 1999 in
document JOB(99)/5868/Rev.1.  In addition, the S ecretariat has ensured that delegations will have
available the working papers circulated by me on 17 November as well as any possible updates.  All
these would be possible inputs into the deliberations of this Conference, even if clearly they are not in
any way agreed texts.  While this is regrettabl e, the intensive and constructive efforts made have
nonetheless helped to narrow down many of the key out standing issues, and I believe that we have in
our grasp all the ingredients necessary for a balanced package of results.
Before concluding, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Chairpersons of the WTO
bodies for their effort, determination and competence.  I also wish to thank all Members for the spirit
of cooperation they have shown in the difficult work undertaken.  Finally, I wish to thank most
warmly the Director-General of the WTO, Mr. Mike Moore, for his decisive action and contribution
to the WTO's work since his appointment as Director-General.
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