JOB/GC/228  
 
19 May 2020  
(20-3671) Page: 1/2 
General Council    
 
COVID -19 TRADE -RELAT ED MEASURES  
 
SPECIAL VIRTUAL GENE RAL COUNCIL MEETING  
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMA N 
Friday, 15 May 2020  
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  Good morning. Welcome to this Special Virtual Meeting of the General Council. I am pleased 
to see you all connected here.  I hope you are well and healthy.   
1.2.  As Chair of the WTO General Council I would like to reiterate my deepest sympathies to the 
Governments and people of all WTO Members that are being severely affected by the spread of 
COVID -19 and the tragic  loss of human lives it is causing.  
2  COVID -19 AND TRADE  
2.1.  The global COVID -19 pandemic is first and foremost a human tragedy. But it is already 
becoming clear that the economic dimensions of the crisis threaten to compound the negative effects 
on livelihoods and health; and that trade, or the lack of it, can variously contribute to ameliorating 
problems or to aggravating the challenges – in both the immediate and longer term.  
2.2.  Over these past couple of months, the WTO has been active in seeking to help Members in 
responding to the crisis.  The Director General has participated in virtual meetings held by some 
Members - including the G20 – and, together with other International Organisations such as WHO, 
WCO, FAO and IMF, has issued guidance statements for Members  to draw from in their domestic 
actions.  The Secretariat has also sought to monitor and report on COVID -related trade measures 
being taken by Members.  
2.3.  Members, individually and in various groupings, have also been active in issuing statements of 
policy int ention. They have called for keeping markets open; ensuring the free flow of trade in 
essential medical goods, as well as in agricultural and food products; minimising disruptions in supply 
chains; and for measures taken in response of this crisis to be tr ansparent, temporary and 
proportionate, without creating unnecessary barriers to trade.  And some Members have begun to 
move beyond statements of intent to 'put some rubber on the road ' in implementing trade -enhancing 
action – on either the import or export  side and, in some cases, covering both.  
2.4.  Today is an important opportunity, as a General Council, for Members to share information and 
exchange views on COVID -19 and related trade measures taken to date, and on approaches they 
are looking to take to assist  in responding to and recovering from the crisis in the coming weeks and 
months.  
2.5.  With these words, I am looking forward to hearing your views today within the time constraints 
of this virtual format.  
2.6.  I intend to first give the floor to the Director -Gener al. Thereafter, I will open the floor to 
delegations.  As you know, we are using a new platform for this meeting so in opening the floor I will 
first make a couple of practical points about how to use it.  Let me recall – as was also indicated in JOB/GC/228  
 
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  the conveni ng notice for this meeting – that no substantive decision will be taken by the General 
Council.  
3  CONCLUDING REMARKS  
3.1.  Thank you all.  This has been a very informative and useful discussion.  I am advised that some 
65 delegations took the floor, and that is a re cord for the General Council in the last seven years. 
This is a credit to all delegations participating and also to the Secretariat for facilitating this platform. 
But this discussion does not end today. Regrettably, we will be living with the consequences  of the 
COVID -19 pandemic for some time ahead.  
3.2.  The need for health protection of people around the world clearly remains the urgent priority 
and many of you have noted the importance of trade in that context - to keep markets open in order 
to facilitate th e flow of essential medical goods as well as agricultural and food products. The adverse 
impact of the crisis on the world economy and the severe economic downturn have also been widely 
evoked in the discussion today, together with the many different polic y dimensions to the response 
and the recovery.   
3.3.  Going forward, and as governments consider options for immediate responses to the COVID-19 
crisis, as well as long term ones, our biggest challenge in the trade sphere is to ensure that trade 
policies, and th e work that we do as Members of the WTO, are part of the solution to assist and 
support that recovery.  
3.4.  As many of you have said, it is important that emergency measures do not have the unintended 
consequences to further aggravate the global economic crisi s down the road, which underlines the 
need to consider using the least harmful trade policy instruments and to adopt a coordinated and 
cooperative approach in addressing the global challenges we are facing.  
3.5.  As many of you also emphasized, as governments lo ok ahead and implement the necessary 
policies for the recovery, multilateral cooperation is more important than ever. A crisis of this 
magnitude - unprecedented in our lifetime – can best be addressed through the international 
community enhancing cooperati on and coordination, including here at the WTO. As a Member -driven 
organization, there cannot have been a more important moment in our 25 year existence, as one of 
you put it today, for Members to 'step up and drive ' 
3.6.  I look forward to continued exchange of views and sharing of information like the one we have 
had today, in this and other appropriate formats.  
3.7.  With these words, I invite the General Council to take note  of all statements made today.  
3.8.  Two final points, before we conclude: first, as I  noted yesterday during the Informal HODS 
meeting and further to the decision announced by the Director -General to step down as of 31  August, 
I intend to immediately engage with Members and initiate as soon as possible a process for the 
appointment of a ne w Director -General, as set out in the guidelines for the appointment of Directors -
General contained in WT/L/509.  I will shortly send out a communication to all Members and in line 
with the guidelines, I will also be consulting with Members to look at estab lishing expedited deadlines 
as necessary, given the very limited time that we have before 1 September.  
3.9.  Second, let me also confirm, as I noted in a communication sent to all delegations this week, 
that the next regular General Council meeting will take pla ce as scheduled, that is on Friday 29 May, 
in virtual form.  The airgram with the list of items for the agenda for the meeting will close on Monday 
18 May, close of business, and will be circulated on Tuesday 19 May. Technical and logistical 
arrangements wi ll be communicated in due course.  
 
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