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WT/BFA/206  
 
28 November 2022  
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Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration    
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 22 SEPTEMBER 2022  
The Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA) met on 22 September 2022. Her 
Excellency Ambassador Dr. Bettina Waldmann, German Ambassador to the WTO , welcomed 
Members to the meeting and said that she was glad to see them back after the Summer break. She 
mentioned that she had already met many of them on Tuesday at the informal CBFA meeting in 
which the Secretariat discussed the transformation exercise with Members. The Chair noted that 
there w ere a lot of items on the agenda and that, to ensure that there was sufficient time to discuss 
each item, the whole day had been reserved for the meeting.  
1  ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
 
1.1.  The Chair recalled that the airgram and annotated agenda for the meeting were  released on 
12 September, bearing the references WTO/AIR/BFA/54 and JOB/BFA/63, respectively.  
1.2.  The Chair clarified that agenda item E (Report of the Independent External Auditor on the Audit 
of the Financial Statements of the World Trade Organization for t he Financial Year Ended 
31 December 2021) was for the Committee's information only and not for approval.  
1.3.  The Chair proposed that agenda item I (Update on the Secretariat Transformation Exercise) be 
moved to follow agenda item L (WTO Pension Plan Interim A ctuarial Valuation) in order to 
consecutively discuss the agenda items related to the work of the External Auditors.  
1.4.  A Member indicated that his delegation would like to take the floor under "Other Business" so 
as to reiterate a comment his delegation had previously made with respect to the annual report of 
the CBFA.  
1.5.  The agenda, as set out in document WTO/AIR/BFA/54, with the modifications reflected in 
paragraphs 1.3 and 1.4 above, was adopted.  
2  ORAL REPORT FROM THE CHAIR ON ONGOING WORK  
 
2.1.  The Chair informed the Committee that she had met with the External Auditors earlier in 
September. She indicated that the External Auditors are conducting a performance audit of trust 
funds and are expected to issue a report later this year.  
2.2.  The Chair also informed the Commi ttee that she had met with Mr Jean -Marc van Dril, Chair of 
the WTO Pension Plan Management Board (WTOPP Chair), given the importance of the issue of long -
term liabilities. She noted that the most recent interim actuarial valuation of the Pension Plan is on  
the agenda for the Committee meeting. She said she expects that Mr. van Dril will update the 
Committee on the work of the Management Board in developing a proposal to address the actuarial 
deficit. She added that the work is continuing and that there will  be consultations and a more formal 
discussion once the proposal is finalized.  
2.3.  Regarding other matters, the Chair said she had reached out to the Chair of the Committee on 
Trade and Development to update her on the discussion of notifications and capacity building as a 
follow up to the CBFA's discussions during its meeting on 24 May. The Chair informed the Committee 
that, as she had mentioned at the CBFA meeting held on 15 July, she had conversations with the 
General Council Chair regarding the question of reporting on administrative measures. She noted 
that information on arrears in contribution is provided orally by the CBFA Chair at the end of each 
meeting of the General Council. She said the question that she discussed with the General Council WT/BFA/206  
 
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  Chair was whether clarity and confidence would be enhanced if this information were also provided 
in written form immediately after it had been provided orally, under "Other Business", rather than 
many weeks later when the minutes of the relevant General Council mee ting are circulated. She 
concluded by saying that, based on the discussions, she intends to follow this approach, beginning 
with the next regular meeting of the General Council on 6 -7 October. She said the purpose of this 
transparency step is to highlight,  with up -to-date information, the positive changes that occur over 
the course of the year as payments are received.  
2.4.  The Chair said she anticipates that during the Fall, the Secretariat will be presenting the 
financial details of the voluntary funding mecha nism established under the new Agreement on 
Fisheries Subsidies to provide technical assistance and capacity building to developing country 
Members. She recalled that the Concept Note bearing the reference TN/C/21/Rev.2 and dated 
1 September 2022 states th at expenditures will be covered by donations to the Fund and that there 
would be a charge of up to 13% for overhead, in keeping with the WTO's Financial Regulations.  
2.5.  Regarding the mid -term review of the budget the Chair said she understands that a proposal  
by the Director -General will be communicated to delegations shortly. She further stated that a 
special session of the CBFA will be held, in early October, exclusively for the presentation of the mid -
term review and that the meeting will be the beginning o f the discussion on the budget review.  
2.6.  The Chair recalled that during the meeting on 15 July, a conversation had taken place regarding 
the role of the WTO's Office of Internal Oversight, and the functions that are planned for the Risk 
Management Officer – a position that is still vacant. She stated that she met with the new Head of 
the OIO, Ms. Mary Jones, to learn more about how she sees the role of the Office. The Chair said 
the conversation was open and constructive. The Chair informed the Committee that  Ms. Jones will 
be presenting her report to the Committee later in the year. On behalf of the Committee, the Chair 
said the CBFA looks forward to meeting Ms. Jones at the CBFA and to working with her going forward.  
2.7.  The Committee took note of the report and  the comments made.  
3  PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE TEXT OF FINANCIAL REGULATION 19 THAT WAS AGREED 
IN JUNE 2019 – BY INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES - WT/BFA/W/564/REV.2 AND 
WT/BFA/W/564/REV.2/CORR.1  
 
3.1.  The Chair recalled that the Committee had extensive discussions re garding Financial Regulation 
19 in 2021 and in prior years as well as more recently during the CBFA meeting on 5 May when the 
Committee discussed the proposal by India and the United States contained in the document bearing 
the reference WT/BFA/W/564/Rev.1 . 
3.2.  She mentioned that document WT/BFA/W/564/Rev.2 was circulated on 18 July 2022 together 
with a table of changes between WT/BFA/W/564/Rev.1 and WT/BFA/W/564/Rev.2. She added that 
a corrigendum to the document was also issued. The Chair informed the Committee that the 
cosponsors of the document held consultations and were available to meet with any interested 
Members on 16 September.  
3.3.  With the above background, the Chair said the revised proposal for Financial Regulation 19 is 
to be considered for deci sion. 
3.4.  Speaking on behalf of the cosponsors, the U.S. delegate said he and India's delegation thank 
all the Members for the active engagement on this issue over the past months. He said the 
cosponsors really appreciate the engagement that they had in their outreach and thanked Members 
that had reached out to them to have consultations and those that the cosponsors had communicated 
with over the course of the past several months. He said the cosponsors believe that the document 
substantively addresses e veryone's concerns and that it is ripe for closure. He said there is one 
outstanding concern with respect to some language and added that he would let the concerned 
delegation speak on this.  
3.5.  The representative of the EU delegation recalled that when he cam e to Geneva two years ago, 
the first subject that the Indian delegate had mentioned to him was Financial Regulation 19. He said 
that he, like many others, has been looking at this Financial Regulation, including that this has been 
quite a long walk in whic h the cosponsors have spent a lot of time.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  3.6.  The representative of the EU delegation said he wants to confirm that his delegation supports 
the spirit and the substance of what is going to be agreed. He informed the Committee that his 
delegation has one small  clarification of text. He apologized for this coming very late considering 
that the document was intended for adoption during the meeting. He emphasized that his delegation 
has no difficulty with the substance but stated that his delegation's lawyers have  pointed to a legal 
ambiguity in the first sentence of the footnote because it refers to trust fund matters but the 
Committee had agreed the revisions will apply to the establishment of new trust funds. He noted 
that clarification is present in the second sentence, but not in the first sentence. He said his 
delegation would like to recommend a very minor modification of the first sentence of the footnote 
in which the words "on trust fund matters" would be replaced by the words "on matters related to a 
propo sed new trust fund".  He noted that there has been a long discussion on trust funds over the 
last years and that there had been a Trust Fund Working Group. He said the Trust Fund Working 
Group also covers existing trust funds whereas the revised Financial R egulation 19 applies to the 
establishment of new trust funds. He thanked the delegates from India and the US, adding that, as 
far as the EU delegation is concerned, the Committee can proceed with the adoption of 
Financial  Regulation 19 in short order.  
3.7.  The delegate of India appealed to the Committee to adopt the version of the proposed revised 
Financial Regulation 19 co -sponsored by his delegation and the US. He stated that the Committee 
had painstakingly worked to bring a resolution to the issue for the las t three years. He said the 
cosponsors were really hoping to get the Financial Regulation gavelled during the meeting. He said 
the cosponsors are extremely disappointed by the last -minute request by the EU delegation for some 
changes in the language of the text. He stated that the cosponsors had clarified in the previous CBFA 
meeting that these provisions are applicable to new trust funds. He said that he would like to 
reiterate that for record. He continued by saying that the legal teams from several delega tions have 
also looked through the language and have not found any inconsistency in the text. He added that 
the cosponsors are particularly disappointed that this change is being brought in at the last minute.  
3.8.  Turning to the Chair, the delegate of India sa id the cosponsors had reached an understanding 
with almost all Members who had intensively engaged them on this issue in July. He said the 
cosponsors, had they wanted to, could have pressed for the adoption of the revision in the July CBFA 
meeting. He said  that they had however not chosen to do so as they wanted to give Members 
adequate time to reflect on the latest revisions and consult their capitals. He said that even after 
the Summer break, the cosponsors had voluntarily reached out to the Chair to prov ide another 
opportunity for the Members to come to the cosponsors if they still had more concerns. He thanked 
the delegations that came forward and participated in consultations and said the cosponsors were 
able to provide them with satisfactory answers.  
3.9.  The delegate of India said the revised proposal has been on the table for months now and that 
the Committee has been working on it for years now. He said the cosponsors had not only engaged 
the EU delegation but the EU Member States as well, especially the donor countries within the group, 
to ensure that the proposal receives their support. He said the proposal is to improve transparency 
in the Organization and that many of the Members present in the meeting, including the 
European  Union, take pride in trans parency. He said that he had expected the European Union to, 
therefore, be the first Members to support the proposal.  
3.10.   The delegate of India recalled that the day after the Ministerial Conference, one of the 
newspaper headlines read "A New Dawn at the WTO",  with a picture of the rising sun over the 
Secretariat building. He said this was an iconic picture, and a historical date because Members had 
achieved the impossible, as many of the outcomes that did not even seem like they could happen a 
couple of days e arlier happened because everyone worked in the spirit of cooperation, 
accommodation, and friendship, particularly his delegation. He said this is the same spirit that his 
delegation has carried through while working on the proposal. He said his delegation has come a 
long way from its original proposal in 2019 and has made several revisions to that proposal because 
his delegation believes that in a member -driven multilateral organization, like the WTO, Members 
will be able to achieve outcomes that are accept able to the entire membership and this requires 
accommodation and compromise. He said his delegation believes that the last -minute request for 
changes is contrary to this spirit of cooperation, accommodation, and transparency and takes the 
Committee a few steps backwards. He appealed to the representative of the EU delegation to kindly 
reconsider his suggestion so that the Chair could be given the opportunity to gavel the proposed 
revised Financial Regulation 19.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  3.11.   A Member said her delegation supports the re quest for more clarity and the drafting presented 
by the representative of the EU delegation. She said that the proposed modifications are in line with 
the spirit of the proposal submitted by the United States and India. She said that though she is sorry 
that the request is a little late, it should not undermine Members' commitment and desire to 
cooperate to achieve greater transparency in the implementation of new voluntary contributions and 
trust funds.  
3.12.   A Member thanked the United States and India for the ir engagement and efforts to take 
concerns expressed by other Members into account. She said this was a really long process. The 
Member says her delegation appreciates the cooperative spirit of Members shown in the process. 
She said Members share some comm on understanding on the revision of Financial Regulation 19 
and added that the representative of the EU delegation had just made a very important point. She 
said the revision only applies to new trust funds rather than the existing trust funds. She noted t hat 
this is a common understanding of the Members. She said it is always important to add more clarity 
in the text and said her delegation will look further into the EU delegation's proposal.  
3.13.   The Member said the EU delegation has reminded her delegation of  the importance of 
certainty and predictability of the text. She said she would like to take the opportunity to reiterate 
some of the other elements of common understanding the Members shared during the recent 
consultations and discussions at the CBFA, esp ecially for the first scenario, which is bullet point 1 of 
paragraph 5 in Annex C of the document WT/BFA/W/564/Rev 2. The Member recalled India's 
statement at the CBFA meeting on 5 May that the decision -making authority to receive voluntary 
contributions w ill still be the Director -General where the voluntary contributions involve no additional 
cost to the regular budget of the WTO or financial liabilities for the Organization. She said the 
proposal seeks only to require transparency about such contributions , that the CBFA will be notified 
merely for transparency purposes, and that neither a Member nor the Committee can block or delay 
the receipt of any voluntary contributions. The Member noted one minor issue, specifically that her 
delegation understands tha t the list of salaries, health insurance contributions, pension 
contributions, and travel costs under the definition of additional direct cost is exhaustive.  
3.14.   The Member said her delegation shares the view that the Committee has made a great effort 
in the d iscussions of the revision of Financial Regulation 19.  She noted that her delegation shares 
the view of the United States that the Committee has agreed on the substantive content and issues 
of the revision. She said her delegation will look into the new pr oposal of the EU delegation and is 
ready to further discussions with Members. She said her delegation hopes that the proposed revision 
of Financial Regulation 19 could be adopted soon.  
3.15.   A Member thanked the cosponsors, saying that their work was constructiv e and inclusive. The 
Member said, like other delegations, that his delegation feels that the time has come to adopt the 
amendments to Financial Regulation 19 as soon as possible. He said his delegation's interpretation 
is that the amendments to Financial R egulation 19 apply only to future trust funds. He added that, 
as the objective of this work is to provide more transparency and more clarity, his delegation would 
like to prevent any ambiguity that could derive from the text. He said if it is necessary to make a 
minor amendment to the first sentence of the footnote in order to provide the transparency that 
would be needed, his delegation would be ready support this.  
3.16.   Speaking on behalf of the cosponsors, the delegate of the United States said he does not 
necessarily agree with the EU delegation's interpretation. He said that he thinks it is a matter of 
English as it is "matters" that is plural and therefore he does not know how the representative of 
the EU delegation had jumped to this understanding of multip le trust funds. He said he does not 
accept the premise but is happy to accept the language because it is consistent with what the 
cosponsors are already saying in the sentences before and after the part that the representative of 
the EU delegation was prop osing be modified. He said it would be helpful to ask, for clarity, whether 
there are any delegations that are unable to agree to the proposed modification and whether there 
are delegations that specifically would need additional time. He said this would e nable the cosponsors 
to know how to proceed. He said it would be optimal if the Committee could agree to the changes 
during the meeting. He added that he knows that this is a little bit unusual but said that the 
Committee had in the past put up proposed ch anges during a meeting and agreed to such changes 
in the room by consensus. He said that would be optimal and asked, for clarity, if any delegations 
have objections, as the Committee would know specifically what these are.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  3.17.   The Chair said she too had the sa me idea to try to get clarity and the extent to which there 
were other comments. She said if nobody else wants to take the floor, she would like to ask Members 
to signal whether they could agree in this meeting on the proposed changes from the EU delegatio n 
or whether there is a preference to have more time to look into the specific proposal from the EU 
delegation. She then asked if they need ten minutes to reflect and let her know whether they can 
agree to the changes.  
3.18.   The United States said, to put a fine r point on the topic, that he would like to ask if there are 
any delegations that cannot accept the changes during the meeting and if the cosponsors can 
assume that the Committee would endorse a recommendation to include Financial Regulation 19 
with the pa ckage of previously approved Revised Financial Regulations so that the Committee can 
decide what to do with that package and make a recommendation to the General Council.  
3.19.   A Member said the EU delegation's proposal came at the last minute. She said her dele gation 
has internal procedures to report back to capital and receive a mandate on how to proceed. She said 
her delegation needs a little bit of time and hopes that the cosponsors could understand the need to 
go through the internal procedures.  
3.20.   The United S tates suggested to the Chair that the Committee could adopt another approach 
that Members have used in other areas. In this regard, he said Members could be given a specified 
period of time to consult and given, that the proposed modification is not a part icularly substantive 
change, that could be one way forward so that Members would not have to spend time on this topic 
at another Committee meeting. He suggested that delegations be given until the middle of the 
following week and that if at that time there  are any objections, he would be happy to come back 
and discuss them, but if there are no objections, the Committee could consider the revised Financial 
Regulation 19 ripe for endorsement with the broader set of Financial Regulations at the next meeting. 
He noted that the Committee has spent a lot of time on this and that he would really appreciate 
everyone's indulgence and not want to have to come back to the Committee and spend more time 
on this Financial Regulation.  
3.21.   The representative of the EU delegatio n prefaced his comments by stating that they are 
intended to help some colleagues who may be wondering how this would work procedurally and that 
he was drawing a parallel to how measures are often adopted in Brussels if they are subject to 
further checking  with capitals. He said they have what is termed "the silent procedure" through 
which the Chair, ad referendum, settles the text and gives a deadline so that delegates can check 
with their capitals and that, only if a Member has a problem within a certain amount of days, the 
Member can request for the agenda item to be subsequently put on the agenda of a formal meeting. 
If no objection is received by the deadline, then the opportunity to object would expire.  
3.22.   Speaking on behalf of the cosponsors, the delegat e of India said the suggestion captured in 
paragraph 3.21 above is very constructive and could be considered, if agreeable to other Members 
as well.  
3.23.   DDG Ellard said that she appreciates the need to check back with capitals. She added that 
she has the sense  that this particular revision reflects the viewpoint in the room as to application 
only to new trust funds. She asked whether delegations might be open to putting both 
Financial  Regulation 19 with the amendment and addition by the EU, as well as the full package of 
revised financial regulations with the amended 19, on the agenda for the next meeting. She said in 
the meantime there can be consultations and any concerns from capitals addressed. She said she is 
putting this alternative approach on the table a s it is more in keeping with the procedures that the 
Committee follows.  
3.24.   The delegate of India said, from their perspective, the practical suggestion made by the 
EU delegation, at paragraph 3.21, on how the process can be taken forward looks feasible in ter ms 
of the procedures. He said if that is well within what is followed in the Organization, then CBFA 
should give it a try.  
3.25.   The Chair said that she will do everything to make this process workable and achieve a positive 
result at the end. She said she would  like to make a procedural proposal that she hopes combines 
all the comments made during the meeting. She noted that the Committee is not in a position to 
endorse changes to Financial Regulation 19 at this stage and that delegations may require some WT/BFA/206  
 
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  more t ime to reflect on the revision that was proposed during the meeting. She recalled that the 
Committee had previously agreed upon specific revisions to Financial Regulations 4, 17, 26, 27, 29, 
37, 38, and 42 and to Financial Regulation 23, and that these are  reflected in document 
WT/BFA/W/568/Rev.1. She proposed to update this document to include the changes that were 
proposed to Financial Regulation 19 during the meeting.  
3.26.   The Chair further proposed that the Committee takes a decision at its next regular meet ing 
to endorse the full set of financial regulations to be submitted to the General Council for approval. 
She requested Members to communicate any objections to her or to the Secretariat, by 30 
September. She expressed the hope that this is agreeable. No d elegation took to the floor to speak 
further.  
4  WTO 2021 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT – WT/BFA/W/588  
4.1.  The Chair said items D "WTO 2021 Financial Performance Report", E "Report of the Independent 
External Auditor on the Audit the Financial Statements of the World Trade Organization for the 
Financial Year ended 31 December 2021", and F "Secretariat's Responses to the External Auditors' 
Recommendations on the Financial Statements of the World Trade Organization for the Year ended 
31 December 2021" are interrela ted. 
4.2.  The Chair then welcomed the representative of the External Auditors (the French Cour des 
Comptes), Mr. Hervé -Adrien Metzger, to the meeting and thanked the External Auditors for their 
work and their report.  
4.3.  She said the Secretariat would introduce age nda item D. She highlighted the elements in the 
structure of the Financial Performance Report and said Members would have the opportunity to ask 
questions and make comments after the Secretariat makes its presentation.  
4.4.  The Chair said the representative of the External Auditors would separately make the 
presentation pertaining to the External Auditors' Report on the WTO 2021 Financial Statements and 
their recommendations, following which Members would have the opportunity to direct any questions 
and comments  to him.  
4.5.  The Chair said under Item F, the Secretariat will have the opportunity to comment on the 
External Auditors' recommendations. She said the various reports and comments that would follow 
will give Members a complete picture, and that combined with t he regular updates made by the 
Secretariat, Members will be able to follow the implementation of recommendations. She encouraged 
Members to engage actively by posing any relevant questions and making comments on the 
presentations that would be made by the External Auditors and the Secretariat.  
4.6.  The Chair said it the CBFA's role to exercise oversight and to monitor the WTO's budgetary and 
financial matters. She then gave the floor to the Secretariat to introduce the 2021 WTO Financial 
Performance Report.  
4.7.  An Official of the Secretariat explained that the budgetary result of CHF 6 million comprises a 
budgetary surplus of CHF 4.7 million, miscellaneous income of CHF 0.9 million and a release of 
contributions in arrears amounting to CHF 0.4 million.  
4.8.  The Official of the Secretariat stated that the two sources of income for the WTO budget are 
assessed contributions (representing approximately 99%) and miscellaneous income (representing 
approximately 1%). She then mentioned that the total assessed contributi ons received as at the end 
of the second quarter were CHF 121 million from Members and CHF 371,046 from Observers. She 
indicated that the actual miscellaneous income that was received had surpassed the budgeted 
miscellaneous income, resulting in a positive  balance of CHF 0.9 million.  She indicated the elements 
that had contributed to this balance.  
4.9.  The Official of the Secretariat informed the Committee that the outstanding contributions at 
the end of 2021 were lower than those at the end of 2020. She said th e high amount of contributions 
for 2021 were mostly due to two top contributors that paid their 2021 contributions late.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  4.10.   The Official of the Secretariat provided details regarding expenditure by Section, highlighting 
that an overspending under temporary as sistance was partially compensated by savings under staff 
salaries, and that there were savings under travel and hospitality and general services due to the 
restrictions imposed by the pandemic.  
4.11.   Another Official of the Secretariat presented the extra budge tary section of the Financial 
Performance Report. He thanked Members for their consistent support of the WTO's technical 
assistance and capacity building through their voluntary contributions.  He shared a summary of 
financial movements in trust funds durin g 2021 and noted that he would be presenting more up -to-
date information on the trust fund situation under agenda item P "Quarter 2 2022 Extrabudgetary 
Funds Report". He mentioned a labelling error on Schedule D of the report that resulted in the 
projects under the China Development Cooperation Research Initiative (CDCRI) being misidentified. 
He said the Secretariat would take the necessary steps to correct this.  
4.12.   Another Official of the Secretariat acknowledged the presence of the representative of the 
External Auditors and expressed appreciation for the cooperation and the excellent work done during 
the weeks spent working on the certification of the 2021 financial statements. He highlighted that 
the structure of the tables and notes in the 2021 Financial S tatements were improved in a bid to 
comply with the External Auditors' recommendations. He added that, whenever possible, the 
Secretariat had immediately implemented the Auditors' suggestions. He mentioned that the 
Secretariat's Financial Statements had an  unqualified audit opinion.  
4.13.   The Official of the Secretariat stated that IPSAS adjustments of CHF -54.2 million, including 
depreciation and provisions for pension and After Service Health Insurance (ASHI) liabilities, had 
been applied to the budgetary resul t of CHF 6 million, leading to a financial deficit of CHF 48.2 million 
for the year 2021. He explained that the volatility of the liabilities is driven by changes in discount 
rate and demographic assumptions. He added that, to reduce the high variance of t he actuarial 
liabilities pertaining to pension and ASHI from one year to another, the WTO would implement the 
recommendation from the External Auditors to harmonize discount rates.  
4.14.   A Member thanked the Secretariat for the work put into the reports and for their presentation. 
The Member said some of the issues will be discussed again when the External Auditors' Report is 
discussed. Referring to the comments made under 4.9, the Member said his delegation apologizes 
for that the payment for the 2021 assessed c ontributions was late and said this is an ongoing 
challenge that his delegation continues to seek to prevent.  
4.15.   The Member said, he does not understand the issue referred to in paragraph 4.11 above, 
regarding schedules, and asked the Secretariat to clarify. He drew the Committee's attention to 
paragraph 3.17 of the 2021 Financial Performance Report and said he notes the challenges of 
creating a grant programme. He said after seven years, there have been four grants and that it has 
to be recognized that, even in the WTO documents, the struggles with putting up and 
operationalizing a grant programme are significant. He said Members need to think about that as 
they go forward from different perspectives.  
4.16.   The Member said paragraph 3.46 of the 2021 Financial Perfor mance Report gives an indication 
of the conversation that Members had just had about the financial arrangements that could be 
included for housing activities by using an accounting process that creates a clear channel for what 
gets expended and how expendi ture works for non -WTO staff that are housed in the WTO. He said 
the EIF provides an interesting example of how accounting can work and achieve the goals that both 
the current trust fund proposals include but also some of the discussions that Members have been 
having about how to manage regular budget impact on trust funds, and where those lines are. He 
said there had been questions and concerns about micromanagement and so he wanted to point out 
that what some Members were suggesting is already being done in the WTO.  
4.17.   The Member said the year before, he had asked for a better understanding of the expenses 
listed under the Programme Support Fund (PSF). He said, at the time, the PSF had CHF 1.5 million 
inflows for the year and that CHF 140,000 went to the regu lar budget. He said it would be useful to 
know where the remaining amount of approximately CHF 1.3 million went. He said there has been 
ambiguity about the costs that the PSF covers. He said it would be helpful, as Members continue to 
refine their thinking  on trust fund management, to be clear on what this PSF actually is used for and 
what it is not used for.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  4.18.   The Member then thanked the Secretariat for all the work on the reports and congratulated 
the whole team for the unqualified audit opinion. He said Me mbers may take the unqualified opinion 
for granted as the financial statements have had similar opinions over the years. He commended 
and thanked the Secretariat for the excellence.  
4.19.   A Member thanked the entire team for preparing the document noting that th ere is a large 
amount of work that is behind the topic. The Member said page 9 of the document indicates that, 
due to the pandemic, the income from rental of meeting rooms had significantly reduced to 5% of 
the expected amount. He asked why this is the cas e as Members, and possibly other parties as well, 
had meetings during 2021. He asked how this reduction can be explained and whether there are 
other rules or policy changes that limited the renting of meeting rooms.  
4.20.   Referring to page 10 of the document, th e Member asked what falls under Other Staff 
Expenditure and the reasons for overspending on this aspect.  Referring to page 12 of the document, 
the Member said there is a statement that the cost for interpreters has increased by 45% due to 
hybrid formats of  the meetings. He asked why the hybrid format, in particular, requires high 
interpretation costs. Still on page 12, the Member said the Secretariat gives some detail on the HR 
training programme, and he asked what the cost of CHF 0.9 million represented. H e asked what 
amount was spent on external HR recruiting, and if there is some overlap with the amount indicated 
on page 12.  
4.21.   A Member congratulated the Secretariat for the audit opinion with no reservations. The 
Member said Recommendation 5 and paragraph 52  in the External Auditors' Report are addressing 
long-term liabilities and the discount rate used for calculating them.  He said this might be explained 
further in the next item on the agenda, in which the Auditors will present their report. He said it is 
important to highlight this as it relates to millions of Swiss Francs in liabilities for the Pension Plan 
and ASHI.  
4.22.   The Member said the expenses for the Ministerial Conference are included in the 
Administration part of the report of expenditures by Output C hapters, and not in the Facilitation of 
Negotiations part. He said this requires clarification as, based on the experience of the past 
Ministerial Conference, the activities ought to fall more under Negotiations.  
4.23.   A Member thanked the Secretariat for the de tailed presentation and for mentioning the 
intention to correct the format mistakes pointed out during the presentation, as reflected in 
paragraph 4.11 above. The Member said it would be desirable to reduce the long -standing concern 
regarding the overspend ing on short -term staff. She said this issue has been discussed for a long 
time at the CBFA and that she hoped it could be structurally addressed through the ongoing 
Secretariat transformation exercise.  
4.24.   The Member noted that as the current transformation e xercise is going forward with more 
waves and initiatives, there might be some issues that have implications for the budget. She said 
this is an area of concern and that her delegation is ready to have further discussions on this at a 
later stage.  
4.25.   Regarding  the comments made at paragraph 4.15, an Official of the Secretariat clarified that 
in schedule D at the end of the Financial Performance Report, there are two projects under the China 
Development Cooperation Research Initiative and that the columns are la belled incorrectly. He said 
the correct labelling should list these two projects under the China Development Cooperation 
Research Initiative (CDCRI).  
4.26.   Regarding the question at paragraph 4.17 pertaining to the Programme Support Fund, the 
Official of the Sec retariat said, despite several discussions within the Committee and within the 
Working Group on Trust Funds, the Program Support Fund might not be fully clear. He explained 
that the Programme Support Fund was set up as a vehicle to capture the 13% that the  WTO charges 
on expenses related to extrabudgetary funds. He added that 10% of whatever goes into the 
Programme Support Fund is then allocated to the regular budget. He said this is a symbolic effort to 
help cover a few aspects but is not intended to fully  capture the entire costs. He said the rest of the 
funds in the Programme Support Fund are dedicated to paying for L -posts i.e., staff who work on 
issues to support technical assistance. He added that L -Posts are a distinct contract type separate WT/BFA/206  
 
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  from the regular budget, and that there is no intermingling of regular staff or funds with L -Posts. He 
said the contracts for L -Posts have a clause that they are valid based on available funding.  
4.27.   As a follow up to the response given in paragraph 4.25 above, a Membe r asked for a better 
clarification of the correction to Schedule D. In response, the Official of the Secretariat explained 
that the China Development Cooperation Research Initiative is an overarching fund, and that various 
projects can be specified, which have to go through the normal process of approval in compliance 
with Financial Regulation 19.  
4.28.   Regarding the question under paragraph 4.19 pertaining to receipts under rental of meeting 
rooms, an Official of the Secretariat responded that the amount was lower due to a suspension of 
the receipts of rental income from the restaurant as a result of the pandemic.  
4.29.   Regarding the question at paragraph 4.22 pertaining to expenditure by Output Chapter, the 
Official of the Secretariat replied that Category I of the  Outputs is linked to Special Sessions and 
Other Negotiating Bodies, whereas Category II is linked to the General Council, the Committees, 
and the Ministerial Conference.  
4.30.   A Member stated that based on the agreement, the China Cooperation Development Resear ch 
Initiative is a Trust Fund in nature and there are currently two projects under it and more will come 
in the future. The Member expressed that her delegation does not agree with the clarification of the 
Secretariat on the approval of projects under Chin a Cooperation Development Research Initiative , 
in paragraph 4.27 above.  She emphasized that the approval procedures of the projects under China 
Cooperation Development Research Initiative has been clearly set in the agreement, which are 
clearly different f rom that for the new trust funds as set in Financial Regulation 19.  
4.31.   Regarding the question at paragraph 4.21, an Official of the Secretariat said the IPSAS 
adjustments pertaining to the discount rate derive mainly from the calculation of the liabilities fo r 
pension and ASHI and that they are the key drivers of the deficit. He said that in agreement with 
the previous External Auditors, the discount rate used is defined by the Swiss Chambers of Pension 
Fund Experts. He said this rate has been in use since 201 5, in response to the rapid fall of interest 
rates back then. He said taking into consideration the current situation in the financial markets, and 
based on an observation by the new External Auditors, the Secretariat will use the spot rate as of 
31 Decemb er as the discount rate going forward.  
4.32.   Regarding the comments at paragraph 4.23 related to the problem of short -term staff, 
DDG Ellard said the Secretariat recognizes that the expenditure on short -term staff has greatly 
increased. She added that the Secret ariat is taking action to address the issue and that a Short -
Term Needs Committee has been established to look at every single request. She said that the 
Committee had already denied some requests for 2022. She further pointed out that there is a 
systemic problem as, due to very slow recruitment, the Secretariat is forced to revert to short -term 
staff to have particular expertise as trade developed and the Members' mandate to the Secretariat 
expanded. She said while short -term staff are less expensive than fixed term staff, there is a hidden 
cost with constantly having to train new staff, constant turnover, pressure on the Human Resources 
Division, and lack of institutional knowledge. She added that this problem needs to be addressed 
strategically.  
4.33.   A Member thanked the Secretariat for the responses its Officials had given. He said his 
delegation understands the issues pertaining to short -term staff as they had been discussed a 
number of times by the Committee. He said his delegation had engaged on this issue at length 
during the previous year. He said there should be an honest projection of the short -term staff 
budget, noting that the current budget is chronically low and the actual expenditure was most 
probably going to be triple the amount. He said it would help to focus on whether the allocated 
amount for the short -term staff budget is what the Secretariat needs, and whether it is a stop gap 
for failures of the hiring process. He said Members should see the reality reflected because, going 
back multiple year s, the budget for short -term staff was 100% or 200% or 125% overspent. He 
noted money had been reallocated from other areas to cover this overspend.  
4.34.   DDG Ellard said she entirely agrees that the Secretariat has to be more realistic as to the 
envelope for sh ort-term staff, both for transparency and good management purposes.  WT/BFA/206  
 
- 10 - 
 
  4.35.   The Chair thanked the Members and the Secretariat for the explanations provided. She 
proposed the that the Committee take note of the report by the Secretariat and the comments made.  
4.36.   The C ommittee took note of the report and the comments made.  
5  REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITOR ON THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL 
STATEMENTS OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 
31 DECEMBER 2021 – WT/BFA/W/598  
5.1.  The representative of the External Auditors introduced himself and presented i nformation on 
the financial audit carried out in accordance with the mandate issued by the General Council and in 
line with engagement letter.  
5.2.  He said since health restrictions had been removed the audit team was able to work in Geneva, 
meeting and having direct discussions with staff in the Administration and General Services Division, 
whom he thanked for their cooperation.  
5.3.  The representative of the External Auditors said they issued an unqualified opinion on the 
financial statements as of 31st of December  2021. He said, nevertheless, the statements require 
some comments, as reflected in the details in the report.  
5.4.  He said their audit methodology is based on a risk analysis and covers the whole spectrum of 
financial reporting. He explained that the aim of th e External Auditors is to certify that the financial 
statements respect the IPSAS framework.  
5.5.  Turning to recommendations issued, the representative of the External Auditors said the 
information in the Notes to the financial statements should not be mixed wi th other general 
information provided by the Secretariat. He said this had been raised in the previous year, and that 
the Secretariat had performed notable improvement in this area, though more could be done to 
improve the drafting and the communication of  disclosures.  
5.6.  The representative of the External Auditors said a reliable and clear internal control system is 
compulsory, adding that this was also mentioned in the previous year's audit report. He said there 
must be an overall system to ensure organizati onal, structural, procedural, and human resources 
matters, as well as the management of risks. He said the WTO had made efforts in this regard but 
more needs to be done to ensure there is a formal recognition of the internal controls within the 
Organizatio n. 
5.7.  The representative of the External Auditors recalled that the introduction of IPSAS was the 
choice of Members to be able to clearly identify and recognize assets such as the inventory of fixed 
assets and long -term liabilities of the Organization such as  pension and ASHI.  
5.8.  He said the External Auditors recommend writing -off a contested debt which the Secretariat 
was not able to recover in the past five years.  
5.9.  A Member thanked the representative of the External Auditors for the work done. He asked for 
elabo ration on Recommendation 7 pertaining to the Special Reserve Account.  
5.10.   Regarding Recommendation 2, specifically on the 11th Ministerial Conference, a Member 
acknowledged that the recommendation mentions writing -off the amount considered unrecoverable, 
addin g that this is a one -off solution. He asked what other solutions could be put in place to prevent 
similar situations in future Ministerial Conferences, apart from write -offs. He said this is an important 
question as currently there are two countries that h ave applied to host the next Ministerial 
Conference, and Members will have to make a choice.  
5.11.   Regarding ASHI liabilities and the funding of the Special Reserve Account, a Member asked if 
the External Auditors recommended an exceptional source of funding, or  additional contributions 
from Members.  
5.12.   The representative of the External Auditors mentioned that the issue of ASHI liabilities is 
common among international organizations and that the WTO manages these liabilities on a pay as WT/BFA/206  
 
- 11 - 
 
  you go basis. He said the Sp ecial Reserve Account set up in the past is insufficient to cover the full 
long-term ASHI liabilities. He clarified that the recommendation aims the establishment of a class of 
assets, similar to the pension assets, to offset the ASHI liabilities. He said there would have to be a 
gradual process of funding the ASHI assets. He said, as his institution had mentioned to other 
international organizations, it is recommended to set up a pool of funds in 5 or 10 years to guarantee 
this regime related to ASHI liabi lities.  
5.13.   Regarding the question pertaining to the recommendation to write -off the money owed for a 
past Ministerial Conference, as mentioned in paragraph 5.10 above, the representative of the 
External Auditors said, based on the Host Country Agreement, the WTO committed to finance the 
Ministerial Conference by up to CHF 1.2 million, whilst the host country committed to finance the 
amounts beyond this. He said the cost of MC11 exceeded CHF 1.2 million, which amount was 
supposed to have been funded by the host  country. He further noted that while the WTO could cover 
the entire cost, he believes that the system in place is a good one and that CHF 1.2 million is a 
reasonable amount for the WTO to bear.  He further noted that the situation being discussed is rare. 
He noted that the WTO should have a way to bring pressure, such as taking away the right to vote.  
5.14.   A Member said the audit recommendation raises a question that would be interesting for 
future discussions about the agreement for hosting Ministerial Conferen ces and for the cost of the 
conferences. He said all Members would benefit from a general understanding of all the costs of 
Ministerial Conferences.  
5.15.   The representative of the External Auditors said the criteria for considering the debt for MC11 
as non -recoverable is straightforward because the WTO does not have a legal tool to enforce this 
debt. He said, therefore, from the audit point of view, it is easy to answer that this debt should be 
written off. He said the required amount to finance Ministerial Conf erences and the contributions 
from host countries depends on the Secretariat and Members. He further noted that the framework 
agreement on expenses for Ministerial Conferences has been the same across all hosts.  
5.16.   The Chair thanked the representative of the External Auditors and proposed that the 
Committee take note of the request by the Member that had commented at paragraph 5.14 to 
further discuss the topic of Ministerial Conferences.  
5.17.   Following the discussions under agenda items D and E, the Chair proposed that the Committee 
recommend that the General Council approve the transfers between budgetary sections, as outlined 
in paragraph 2.33 of document WT/BFA/W/588, and that the Committee recommend that the 
General Council approve the WTO Audited Financial Stat ements for the year ended 
31 December  2021.  
5.18.   The Committee endorsed the recommendations in paragraph 5.17 above.  
6  SECRETARIAT'S RESPONSES TO THE EXTERNAL AUDITORS' RECOMMENDATIONS ON 
THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION FOR 
THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 31  DECEMBER 2021 – WT/BFA/W/602  
6.1.  An Official of the Secretariat said her introduction will be brief as the representative of the 
External Auditors had already covered several aspects of the recommendations. She said  the 
Secretariat has accepted all the eight recommendations issued by the Auditors. She expressed 
appreciation for the work done by the External Auditors and the professional and engaging manner 
in which they had interacted with the Secretariat staff.  
6.2.  The Official of the Secretariat confirmed that recommendations 2 and 4 are interlinked. She 
clarified that the Special Reserve Account is currently booked in the accounting system as a reserve, 
and thus appears under equity, and not assets, in the balance shee t. She said, for visibility, the 
Special Reserve Account amounts ought to instead be reflected under assets in the balance sheet to 
align this with the presentation of ASHI liabilities. She added that as per the WTO Audited Financial 
Statements as of 31 De cember 2021 the amount of ASHI liabilities is CHF 293 million with no assets 
reflected for ASHI. She highlighted that the balance in the Special Reserve account CHF 8.1 million, 
an amount significantly lower than the ASHI liabilities. She reiterated that t he goal is to enhance 
visibility by moving the balance of the Special Reserve Account to an asset class, similar the 
presentation of the WTO Pension Plan assets.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  6.3.  A Member thanked the Secretariat for the work done. Concerning the audit recommendation 
to wri te-off the amount owing for MC11, the Member said that her country hosted MC11 and 
considers that all obligations have been fulfilled.  
6.4.  The Chair thanked the Members for their questions and comments.  
6.5.  The Committee took note of the comments and answers of th e Secretariat on the 
recommendations issued by the External Auditors.  
7  REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITORS ON THE FOLLOW -UP TO THE 
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXTERNAL AUDITORS – WT/BFA/W/599  
7.1.  The Chair introduced the topic and gave the floor to the repre sentative of the External Auditors, 
Mr. Hervé -Adrien Metzger.  
7.2.  The representative of the External Auditors said that his intervention will be succinct and that 
he would be available for any questions. He informed the Committee that the ratio of implemented 
recommendations is about 75%, and he thanked the Secretariat for its practical attitude in 
implementing the recommendations.  
7.3.  The representative of the External Auditors said that he is aware that the bureaucratic 
constraints or the political sensitivity of  certain items might bring delays in the implementation of 
recommendations. He said that, however, even if this is true in general, there are nonetheless 
several cases where there is a very slow pacing of implementation, and even sometimes just 
studying th e recommended measures gives a rise to a certain suspicion there is major passive 
resistance at the Secretariat, who may not necessarily approve the recommendations the 
External  Auditors have issued.  
7.4.  He said the CBFA has the authority to decide when implem enting a recommendation is 
appropriate and when it is not. He said the CBFA has the last word on the recommendations and 
that the External Auditors respect this legitimacy and authority. He said that is then up to the 
Secretariat to lay out a road map and deadline.  He highlighted that the common goal of the External 
Auditors and the Secretariat is to improve financial management, following general reporting 
standards.  
7.5.  He concluded by saying that it is the opinion of the External Auditors that the Committee ought 
to take explicit decisions to approve or disapprove the recommendations, not to simply take note.  
7.6.  A Member thanked the External Auditors for continuing to follow up on outstanding 
recommendations, adding that it has been very important to his delegat ion to make sure that 
Members are monitoring and tracking the implementation over time. He said he takes note of the 
comment about passive resistance and said changes are hard for everyone.  He said Members are 
undertaking a period of reform and that there is a lot of resistance to that and that it is important 
to recognize that changes are unsettling for everyone. The Member said there are certain reflections 
of this throughout the External Auditors' Report in terms of beginning to pivot the Organization an d 
make these changes, adding that all are working together.  
7.7.  The Member recalled that he had previously made a comment with respect to home leave and 
that he had just heard that there is some question about the priorities of the Joint Advisory 
Committee and  how fast it acts on certain things and how it may get distracted on other things. In 
this regard, the Member reiterated that his delegation's interest is in making sure that that this long -
standing item is moved on quickly. The Member asked the representa tive of the External Auditors 
to provide an update with respect to the performance audit of trust funds. He noted that the 
conclusion in paragraph 19 in the document is that this is waiting on the results of the performance 
audit. He asked for an indicatio n of the timing and process for the work to be completed and for the 
process to move forward.  
7.8.  The representative of the External Auditors said his team is very aware of the extreme difficulty 
of introducing change, particularly in international organizatio ns. He said that in his 20 years of 
experience in international organizations, he and his teams try to make recommendations that can 
be implemented in some months. He said, given the culture of international organizations and their WT/BFA/206  
 
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  resources et cetera, res istance to change is everywhere, not just at the WTO. He said the External 
Auditors think it is important for Members to underscore the importance of follow -up of the report, 
adding that the External Auditors are concerned about measuring the pace and time  of the 
implementation of recommendations. He said sometimes it is necessary to take four years to 
implement some recommendations and sometimes two years is too much. He stressed that it is 
important that a roadmap, with timelines, be put in place for the implementation of audit 
recommendations.  
7.9.  In response to the question at paragraph 7.7, the representative of the External Auditors 
informed the Committee that his team is in the process of finalizing the performance audit report, 
and that he had received a  preliminary report the week before. He said the report will be addressed 
to the Secretariat for comments and any comments in the next ten days. He said, hopefully with the 
timeframe that will be required for the report's translation, the External Auditors  would be able 
present it to the CBFA before the end of the year.  
7.10.   The Committee took note of the report of the External Auditors and the comments made.  
8  SECRETARIAT'S RESPONSES TO THE FOLLOW -UP TO OUTSTANDING 
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXTERNAL AUDITORS – WT/BF A/W/603  
8.1.  An Official of the Secretariat said the Secretariat acknowledges the recommendations and the 
perspectives presented by the External Auditors, noting that the process could be sped up. She said 
the Secretariat will focus on implementing the recommendations as soon as possible.  
8.2.  A Member thanked the External Auditors for their efforts in analysing and moving forward the 
past recommendations. He noted that the Secretariat acknowledges that the implementation process 
could be sped up. The Member said there are two recommendations where the Secretariat's 
responses are unclear to him. He said the first one pertains to the response to recommendation 3.1 
regarding internal controls. He said according to the timeline, the Secretariat indicates that it began 
to address the issue in June 2021 and a proposal for a framework was submitted in February 2022. 
He said, however, that in July 2022, the Secretariat indicated that it is now back to discussing how 
to address the issue. He asked whether the issue wit h the proposal that was initially submitted could 
be explained. Regarding recommendation 4.1 on early retirement, the Member said that after 
seemingly being ready for over a year, the Secretariat's response indicates that additional technical 
questions wer e raised by the administration. He asked the Secretariat to indicate what is meant 
specifically by the administration and what the technical issues in question are. He asked the 
Secretariat to offer more context in its response, at least in these two cases . He noted that otherwise, 
based solely on the information made available by the Secretariat in its written response, the 
External Auditor's impression is understandable that administrative steps are used as a pretext for 
delaying implementation.  
8.3.  The Membe r suggested that in future the Secretariat employ, in its responses, a document 
structure that reflects that of the External Auditors' reports. He stated that currently the 
External  Auditors address financial and performance recommendations in separate sec tions while 
the Secretariat employs a purely chronological list, which makes the recommendations appear mixed 
and more difficult to track.  
8.4.  An Official of the Secretariat responded to the question raised in paragraph 8.2 regarding the 
response to recommenda tion 3.1. She said the I nternal Control Framework had been submitted to 
the Secretariat's previous leadership team of the WTO, and that there was a change in the 
Secretariat's leadership team. Subsequently, the then Head of the Office of Internal Oversight  left 
the Secretariat when his term ended. She said the new Head of the Office of Internal Oversight 
needs time to look at the Internal Control Framework objectively, benchmark against other 
international organizations, get a comfort level, and submit the Internal Control Framework to the 
new leadership team. The Official of the Secretariat added that the new Head of the Office of Internal 
Oversight will be present during an upcoming CBFA meeting.  
8.5.  Responding to the other question at paragraph 8.2 regarding the response to recommendation 
4.1, an Official of the Secretariat explained that procedurally, the agreement must be approved by 
both the WTO Secretariat's administration and the WTOPP Management Board. He said the issue 
has now been resolved, noting that  the delay was due to the need to adjust the text with the help WT/BFA/206  
 
- 14 - 
 
  of the Office of Legal Counsel to be consistent with the Staff Rules, and that to then resubmit the 
document to the WTOPP Management Board for its endorsement.  
8.6.  The Member that had posed questions at paragraph 8.2 commented that  item 13 in the table 
in the document dovetails with the conversations Members have been having on Output Reporting 
and the overall thinking about performance measurement in the WTO. He said he is interested in 
continuing to engage on the strategic plan transparency. He said he had some really good 
conversations with the Secretariat about the Output Reporting regime that is in place. He said where 
he left that conversation is that Output Reporting has to fit with the  strategic goals. He said his 
delegation is interested in seeing Members and the Secretariat working together because all want 
to get on the same page to document and reinforce, for their stakeholders, the value generated by 
the Organization and also its p rudent management. He flagged that fulfilling the recommendation is 
somewhat linked to setting up the objectives and added that his delegation would be interested in 
keeping abreast of the timing and setting of objectives. He mentioned that some comments h ad 
been made during the meeting in the morning about where the Ministerial Conference fits in terms 
of Output Reporting. He said these are good conversations to have so that Members, when looking 
at the Outputs, have a common understanding of where the mon ey is going, where staff time is 
spent, and how the objectives are being achieved.  
8.7.  The Chair thanked Members for their comments and the Secretariat for the responses.  
9  WTO PENSION PLAN - ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR 
ENDING 31 DECEMBER  2021 – WT/BFA/W/597 AND WT/L/1150  
9.1.  The WTOPP Chair presented the 2021 WTO Pension Plan (WTOPP) Annual Report and Financial 
Statements.  He noted that this is the first time the financial statements have been shared with the 
CBFA before their statutory prese ntation to the General Council. He said this action is the result of 
a suggestion from the External Auditors because the liabilities of the WTOPP are now reported in the 
WTO Financial Performance Report.  
9.2.  The WTOPP Chair drew the Committee's attention to a few elements in the financial statements 
where there have been evolutions or changes since 2020. He noted that on Statement 1, there was 
a significant increase in investment income due to an exceptionally strong year in the performance 
of financial markets . He said though the portfolio had realized a real return of 9.7% in 2021, which 
is more than 3 times the expected return, markets have behaved differently in 2022, and virtually 
all those gains have been erased. He said it is important to note that this k ind of market price 
volatility says nothing about the underlying economic value of the assets but does impact the 
expected yields on those assets when expressed as future expected returns. He added that higher 
market returns one year typically lead to lowe r expected returns in future years.  
9.3.  Regarding Statement 2, the Balance Sheet, the WTOPP Chair pointed out that in the WTOPP 
accounts, the total assets and liabilities match. He explained that this is because the WTOPP does 
not yet report according to IPSAS  standards like the overall WTO. He said the WTOPP is gradually 
transitioning to IPSAS standards, but for now it is necessary to look to the WTO Financial Statements 
to see the full picture. He informed the Committee that, on an IPSAS accounting basis, pen sion 
liabilities are estimated at CHF 1.4 billion. He said this liability is offset by assets of CHF 739 million 
at the end of 2021, resulting in a net liability of CHF 701 million.  
9.4.  The WTOPP Chair then drew the Committee's attention to Schedule A of the F inancial 
Statements, noting that it illustrates an important change in the maturity of the WTOPP. He said for 
the first time in the WTOPP's history, the cost of paying benefits exceeded the value of contributions. 
He added that this is normal as a pension plan matures and the number of retirees increases relative 
to the number of staff. He said while this is normal, it also has implications for managing the assets 
of the WTOPP. He added that, going forward, benefits will be paid from contributions plus inco me 
from the investments, and that this means assets will grow at a slower rate because only a part of 
investment income will be reinvested to generate future returns.  
9.5.  The last table highlighted by the WTOPP Chair was Schedule B, showing the breakdown of 
expenditures. He said the costs of running a pension plan are always an important element to 
monitor. He noted that investment management fees and actuarial expenses have increased from 
their 2020 levels. He said investment management fees are partially a fu nction of asset values so a WT/BFA/206  
 
- 15 - 
 
  larger portfolio will generate higher management fees.  He said the actuarial expenses increased 
because the WTOPP undertook a full actuarial valuation and transitioned to a new actuary, which 
also entailed some transition costs.  He said the ongoing reform efforts will also generate higher than 
normal actuarial costs, so the expectation is that actuarial costs will remain elevated in 2022.  
9.6.  The WTOPP Chair then transitioned from the Financial Statements to an update on the WTOPP's 
interim actuarial valuation and the current reform process. He began by explaining that he was 
presenting the result of the interim valuation based on 2021 data. He said the valuation shows that 
the gap slightly decreased from 10.5% in 2020 to 9.4% in 2021 , due to the excellent 2021 
investment return of 9.7%. However, he emphasized that the fundamental situation of a substantial 
actuarial gap remains and will have to be addressed.  
9.7.  The WTOPP Chair next showed a slide to illustrate two important points in tim e pertaining to 
the need to address the actuarial deficit.  He noted that the first point in time is in about 10 -12 years 
and relates to when the WTOPP will begin using invested assets to pay benefits, and the second is 
the point at which the WTOPP would ru n out of investable assets, in roughly 40 years.  He explained 
that the situation would have to be addressed by both reducing the rate of expenditure and 
increasing the asset base. Given this approach to resolving the situation, the WTOPP Chair shared 
the broad outlines of the work being done by the Management Board to develop a reform proposal.  
He explained that he is not yet in a position to share specific numerical measures or their projected 
impact, but he could outline the emerging elements of such a re form package. He informed the 
Committee that an important aspect to bear in mind is that the WTOPP is the sole social security 
scheme that for which many WTO staff are eligible, noting that the staff do not have access to the 
first pillar or disability ben efits through the Swiss schemes and that this is equally true in most other 
countries.  
9.8.  The WTOPP Chair informed the Committee that the actuarial deficit is driven by two main 
factors: on -going increases in life expectancy and deteriorating economic factors  such as interest 
rates and inflation that affect the WTOPP's expected financial performance. He said since the release 
of the 2020 full actuarial valuation in March, the Management Board’s Actuarial Working Group had 
met eight times, and that it will have  additional meetings in the weeks to come.  He said in normal 
times, the Actuarial Working Group meets twice a year. The WTOPP Chair said in his view, the work 
has progressed well considering the intervening MC12 and summer holidays and is now close to 
maturity. He said the Management Board requires some additional time to finalise a reform package.  
9.9.  The WTOPP Chair informed the Committee that the following guiding principles have been 
established during the discussions of the Actuarial Working Group: equal b urden sharing of 50/50 
between the WTOPP participants (staff and retirees) and WTO Members; benchmarking with the 
pension plans of other international organizations, where appropriate, favouring measures where 
the WTOPP can use alignment with the plans of other international organisations to close the gap 
while remaining competitive/attractive for the recruitment of new staff; and increasing the 
contribution rate, the element that contributes most to reducing the funding gap, while respecting 
the 1/3:2/3 al location between the pension plan participants and WTO Members.  
9.10.   The WTOPP Chair informed the Committee that the Management Board decided to focus on 
five main building blocks that will allow the Management Board to assemble a reform package that 
gets close  to covering the gap. He first described elements impacting benefits – increasing the 
normal retirement age for new hires and having a voluntary increase for current staff, changing 
accumulation rates for new hires, and adjusting the pension indexation mec hanism for retirees.  He 
then described an element that would impact both WTOPP participants and WTO Members, i.e., 
increasing the contribution rates, adding that this would be fully predictable in terms of timing and 
consequences for both WTO Members (in t erms of increased contribution) and staff (in terms of 
reduction of net salary).  
9.11.   The WTOPP Chair said another measure impacting only WTO Members is capital infusion to 
the WTOPP's assets, noting that this would immediately relieve the pressure of the actua rial gap by 
increasing assets when such infusions are made, and consequently improving future investment 
income and keeping the WTOPP in balance. He concluded by affirming that the Management Board 
is working hard to bring forward a reform package that wou ld be the basis for consultations with all 
the WTOPP's stakeholders, including with Members at the CBFA.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  9.12.   A Member expressed appreciation for the information shared by the WTOPP Chair and 
summarized his understanding of the consequences of expected poor inv estment performance in 
2022. He said he interprets the consequences as being a drop in assets because they were now 
being used to pay benefits.  
9.13.   The WTOPP Chair clarified that the vast majority of benefit payments are still covered by 
cashflow into the WTOP P from current contributions, and that any impact would not be felt directly 
on the assets of the WTOPP at this point.  
9.14.   An Official of the Secretariat further elaborated that it is important to make a distinction 
between market value, which is what happens to the total value of the portfolio from one year to 
the next, and the economic value of the assets and their ability to generate income such as interest 
and dividends.  He said it is normal for a maturing pension plan to reach a point where it star ts to 
pay benefits using a combination of contribution income and income derived off the portfolio in the 
form of interest and dividends. He said as the WTOPP progresses to a more mature position, the 
Management Board will have to pay more attention to the  timing of cashflows, the assets in the 
portfolio, and whether they generate enough income and dividends to fill the contribution gap.  
10  WTO PENSION PLAN - REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITOR ON THE 
AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE WORLD TRADE  ORGANIZATION PENSION 
PLAN FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 31  DECEMBER 2021 – WT/BFA/W/596 
WT/L/1149  
10.1.   The representative of the External Auditors, Mr. Metzger, presented a few comments to 
highlight aspects of the audit report. He noted the prior year issue rega rding the lack of formalized 
accounting policies and acknowledged the timely and satisfactory response of the Management 
Board in addressing this concern. He explained that it will eventually be appropriate for the WTOPP 
to adopt IPSAS to better align with  the reporting of the WTO. He said the IPSAS standards for 
pension schemes are not yet finalized, so the situation is satisfactory for now.  
10.2.   Regarding the recommendations in their 2021 report, he explained that in the External 
Auditors' view, the exact stan dard used to determine the financial viability of the WTOPP is not 
sufficiently clear, and he noted that it might make sense to define what is considered an acceptable 
quantitative range in which the actuarial balance of the WTOPP is considered stable. He said, at the 
same time, that the External Auditors believe that more specific guidelines for the timeframe in 
which actuarial deficits should be addressed need to be more clearly articulated. He noted that delays 
in addressing an under -funding situation wi ll compound and allow the situation to deteriorate.  
11  WTO PENSION PLAN 2021 INTERIM ACTUARIAL VALUATION – WT/BFA/W/594  
11.1.   The WTOPP Chair updated the Committee on the most recent interim actuarial valuation. He 
noted that while the 2021 report shows a modest im provement, the fundamental situation remains 
serious and in need of attention - in particular, investment returns in 2022 will almost certainly be 
below expectations and erase the positive returns from the previous year.  
11.2.   Next, the WTOPP Chair provided the Committee with a summary of the work undertaken by 
the WTOPP Management Board to develop reform proposals.  He noted that the Management Board 
had been meeting intensively and making important progress. He said he is not yet able to share 
quantitative estim ates of specific reform elements.  He said he can share the broad principles the 
Management Board was using to guide its work and the anticipated building blocks of a reform 
package.  
11.3.   He said the broad principles include burden sharing among stakeholders, be nchmarking with 
other international organizations, and targeting an increase in the contribution rate as a major 
element while maintaining the current 1/3 – 2/3 allocation between staff and WTO Members.  
11.4.   He said the building blocks for a reform package currently under consideration by the 
Management Board include increasing the normal retirement age, reducing the accumulation rate 
for benefits, adjusting the cost -of-living methodology, increasing contribution rates, and capital 
infusion.  He said other options are still on the table, though the ones he had mentioned are likely to WT/BFA/206  
 
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  have the most impact while maintaining burden sharing - targeted at 50% on beneficiaries (staff 
and retirees) and 50% on WTO Members.  
11.5.   Finally, the WTOPP Chair indicated th at the next step would be for the Management Board to 
agree on a draft reform package that could be the basis for further informal consultations with 
stakeholders before a final package would be formally submitted to the CBFA.  
11.6.   A Member asked about the refe rence to burden sharing where he had heard two numbers 
mentioned, one being 50 -50, and the other one being 1/3 -2/3. The Member also asked what 
Members contribute towards the pension plan annually. Finally, he asked what the process for 
engaging Members wil l be and if they will be presented options.  
11.7.   A Member asked what the current retirement age in the WTO Secretariat is and by how much 
it might it be increased.  He also noted that if capital infusion means what he thinks, the fact that 
Members are now in a v ery dire situation economically all over the world means a capital infusion 
would need a very thorough discussion.  
11.8.   A Member observed the importance of an ongoing conversation on these difficult choices and 
the need to look at this in the broader context of  some of the other changes that are being suggested 
because resources are finite. He suggested that Members do not want to create or exacerbate one 
problem while trying to address something else, so there should be some coordination across the 
discussions that are going on about institutional reform. The Member mentioned that the 
transformation exercises are picking up private sector ideas and perhaps modernization of the 
pension system to a hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution rather than a complete  defined 
benefit package should be considered.  
11.9.   In response to the questions at paragraph 11.6, the WTOPP Chair confirmed that with respect 
to the burden sharing he had mentioned two figures. As clarification he noted that the working 
hypothesis that the Ma nagement Board has adopted for fixing the gap is a 50 -50 approach meaning 
that half of the measures proposed to close the gap will be borne by current staff, future staff and 
retirees and the other half of the gap would be covered by the WTO Members. The W TOPP Chair 
noted that the Management Board had adopted this 50 -50 approach because  the gap to be 
addressed is much more significant than the gap that the plan had to fix previously where mainly 
staff have borne the measures that have covered previous gaps.  The WTOPP Chair explained that 
the 1/3 – 2/3 figures mentioned refer specifically to the contribution rate where one third is paid by 
staff, (deducted from their salary), and two -third is paid by the WTO Members. In the proposal that 
the Management Board will be making these percentages would be maintained. He added that the 
current level of Member contributions to the pension plan is about CHF 19 million per year.  
11.10.   Regarding comments made at paragraph 11.8 regarding Member engagement, the WTOPP 
Chair said the Management Board, in addition to the 50 -50 burden -sharing, is also considering other 
factors such as what other organizations have been doing and seeking the advice of the Legal 
Counsel to understand what might be legal boundaries which the organizatio n has to respect. He 
noted that when there are reforms of this nature there will most likely also be challenges brought to 
the ILO's Administrative Tribunal by some participants. He said the Management Board's intention 
is to propose one set of measures th at have a certain coherence. He said the Management Board 
will first be issuing a draft proposal for the purposes of discussion on an informal basis with Members 
and other stakeholders before making a formal proposal to the CBFA.  
11.11.   The WTOPP Chair said that the Management Board is conscious of the environment in which 
this process is evolving and conscious of what is happening outside of the WTO. He added that to 
respect the mandate attributed to the Management Board it is mainly benchmarking against other 
international organizations. He said if Members would like the Management Board to have a different 
approach or benchmark against other systems, this is something that the Management Board can 
consider.  
11.12.   Regarding comments made at paragraph 11.7 on the capita l infusion, the WTOPP Chair noted 
that it is outside of his role to comment on the more political atmosphere for capital infusion but 
that a capital infusion would go directly to the WTOPP's assets, thereby immediately improving the 
WTOPP's ability to gene rate income. He said while there are different ways of realizing the capital 
infusion, that is for discussion at the later stage.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  11.13.   A Member noted that in his country, there is the possibility to extend one's career and 
working life up to 70 years of age. He  suggested that if the normal retirement age were set at 67, 
it would be possible to give staff the flexibility to retire later if they want to.  
11.14.   A Member noted the difficulties of a capital infusion.  
11.15.   With respect to the comment made at paragraph 11.13, th e WTOPP Chair said that the Board 
will consider a longer retirement age for current staff on a voluntary basis.  He said that the Board 
would deepen its thinking on this matter.  
11.16.   A Member questioned the appropriateness of the WTOPP portfolio holding cash in an 
inflationary period as was indicated in the annual report discussed earlier.  
11.17.   With reference to the comment made at paragraph 11.14, an Official of the Secretariat 
acknowledged that the question of holding cash is a good one and noted that inflation is a  new 
development.  He noted that in the current environment, cash holdings have been one of the best 
performing assets in the portfolio because equities and fixed income have produced strongly 
negative returns in the current year.  He explained that the reas on the WTOPP holds cash is because 
most safe fixed income securities have been paying negative interest rate in recent years. He said 
cash has played a stabilizing and diversification role in the portfolio. The Official of the Secretariat 
added that the Ma nagement Board is actively reviewing this allocation because interest rates are no 
longer negative.  
11.18.   A Member took the floor and said he would like to circle back on making sure that the 
Committee is not siloed in its thinking because there are multiple pro blems that have been identified.  
He said it is not clear that the silos are talking to each other. He expressed the hope that there will 
be a broader cross conversation to avoid solving problems in silos and potentially creating additional 
problems without  thinking through the implications.  
11.19.   The CBFA Chair thanked the WTOPP Chair for his report and insights.  
12  UPDATE ON THE SECRETARIAT TRANSFORMATION EXERCISE – WT/BFA/W/604  
12.1.   The Chair recalled that DDG Ellard has provided helpful information and written update s to 
Members regarding the Secretariat transformation exercise, including in document WT/BFA/W/604 
circulated in advance of the meeting. She also recalled that an informal briefing session with the 
Transformation Office was held on 20 September. The Chair then invited DDG Ellard to provide any 
further information on the process and where things stand. She added that the Members would then 
be given an opportunity to ask further questions or comment on individual topics.  
12.2.   DDG Ellard said she is pleased to provide Members with an update on the Secretariat's 
transformation exercise and to hear their comments. She mentioned that, as she has done before, 
she will provide the Committee with her speaking notes in writing following the meeting. She added 
that she will continue to provide regular written updates on the status of the transformation work in 
advance of each meeting and that the third of these updates was circulated to Members on 5 
September in document WT/BFA/W/604. DDG Ellard informed the Committee th at the updates and 
the transformation work will remain on the agenda for discussion at future meetings of the 
Committee.  
12.3.   DDG Ellard recalled that at the last Committee meeting, some Members asked for a list of the 
areas of responsibility for the Advisors i n the Director -General's Office. She informed the Committee 
that the Secretariat has posted a detailed chart on the WTO's Member/Observer website and that 
the link to that chart can be found on the page dedicated to the Director -General, under Office of 
the Director -General. She said a copy of the chart will be circulated with her speaking notes following 
the meeting.  
12.4.   DDG Ellard stated that at the last meeting, several Members requested an informal meeting 
with the Transformation Office, she added that the session was held on Tuesday 20 September 2022, 
with Victoria Donaldson, the Head of the Transformation Office. DDG Ellard said she found the 
session very productive and expressed hope that the Members had also deemed it as such. She said 
the Secretariat ap preciates the careful attention given and detailed feedback provided by Members WT/BFA/206  
 
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  at that meeting. She noted that the exchanges during that meeting on several of the specific topics 
covered by the current work will assist the Secretariat in guiding implement ation. She said the 
Secretariat had also taken good note of Members' interest in future work and looks forward to 
working with Members.  
12.5.   DDG Ellard said given that exchanges had so recently taken place on Tuesday, she will keep 
her update brief. She said si nce the last CBFA meeting in July, the initial design work on the third 
wave, focusing on data, technology, and innovation, has concluded as Victoria Donaldson had 
explained in detail on 20 September. DDG Ellard stated that Members' input had been sought i n two 
consultation sessions in July before proposals were put to the Transformation Steering Committee. 
She thanked Members for having taken the time to participate and provide useful input.  
12.6.   DDG Ellard said that the digital transformation work has yielded a comprehensive map of all 
digital tools already in use and that a roadmap of priorities for the future will be developed, including 
an intelligent search function to revamp Documents Online and a single window for notifications. 
She added that the next st age of the digital transformation work involves assessing the possible 
costs and content of the use cases identified as priorities, and how they could fit in alongside other 
priority initiatives that are already being rolled out.  
12.7.   DDG Ellard said, as discus sed at the informal session on 20 September, the focus of the 
transformation work is now shifting to implementing the outcomes approved so far on rewards 
outside of promotion, procurement, risk management, promotions, mobility, recruitment, and career 
pathways. She recalled that the invitation to the informal briefing included an Information Note on 
rewards that was prepared for Secretariat staff. She said this document contains information 
Members have been seeking on the summary of outcomes and the backgr ound behind the initiative. 
She said the Information Note will be re -sent with her speaking notes and the DGO portfolios. She 
added that Information Notes on the remaining six  issues will be sent on a rolling basis.  
12.8.   DDG Ellard said further work on addition al topics, and in particular work focusing on strategy 
and vision, has not yet been launched. She said the Secretariat is eager to begin this work and that 
she is aware that so too are Members. She said the Secretariat will consult with Members once the 
Secretariat reaches this phase of work because she knows that this issue is of high priority to 
Members.  She emphasized that the Secretariat is committed to engaging Members to obtain their 
views. She thanked Members for their constructive engagement with th e Secretariat's 
transformation work.  
12.9.   Before concluding, DDG Ellard updated Members on the recruitment process for Directors. 
She announced that the new Director of the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee (CTNC) 
Division is Ambassador Santiago Wills of  Colombia, adding that many delegates of course know him 
well. She said that given how aptly he led the WTO through the fisheries negotiations, she is 
confident that the CTNC Division is in very good hands. She congratulated Ambassador Wills and 
wished him  best of luck in his new endeavour. DDG Ellard said there are three remaining Director 
vacancies - Information and External Relations, Human Resources, and Economic Research and 
Statistics. She said all of them are at an advanced stage of the recruitment p rocess.  
12.10.   A Member thanked the Chair and DDG Ellard for continuing to circulate regular updates on 
the transformation exercise and also for organizing the meeting on 20 September. He said the 
meeting had gone into some detail regarding the ongoing changes. H e said his delegation continues 
to have some concerns about regarding interaction between different areas and different silos.  
12.11.   The Member said, as many Members have pointed out repeatedly during past meetings, his 
delegation believes that a strategic visio n, or at least starting to develop a strategic vision for the 
Organization, is necessary to inform both the details that have been communicated by DDG Ellard, 
and by Victoria Donaldson on 20 September, as well as other thematic subjects that had been 
menti oned ahead of the meeting that was announced for October. He said these would be relevant 
for reconsidering certain budgetary elements.  
12.12.   The Member continued by saying that his delegation believes that it is particularly important 
to find a way to engage Members in this process and that his delegation has the impression that the 
Secretariat shared this view. He said based on the overview su bmitted by the Secretariat and the 
briefing on 20 September, there seems to be no progress on strategy at all, and quite the contrary WT/BFA/206  
 
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  as strategy seems to become less and less present in the considerations. He noted that strategy is 
part of a second phase that is neither determined with regard to time or content, while at the same 
time, elements that were discussed in the so -called first phase become more and more concrete, in 
the absence of any vision to guide these elements. He said the Secretariat might say that building 
blocks are purely managerial tools but just taking one example, external mobility, one has to ask 
why this is purposeful for the Organization. He asked if the Organization is strategically moving into 
a direction where a specific type of expertise is necessary or is it rather staying on course where the 
Organization would want to keep the expertise that it has in -house and maybe not push for external 
mobility. He asked if the Organization is heading in a structural direction where maybe ce rtain 
specific managerial experience is required, and who would be the partners for the external mobility.  
12.13.   The Member  said the Secretariat's overview notes that, in parallel to work on these strategic 
elements sometime in the future, additional units might  be put in place. He asked what strategy or 
vision these units would be based on if the work is happening in parallel. He said his delegation 
requests that the Secretariat prioritize the strategic elements of the transformation exercise and 
present a propo sal on meaningful engagement with the Members on the topic.  
12.14.   The Member said that regarding the Risk Manager position, the overview indicates that the 
recommendation has been reviewed and approved and plans are already being developed for 
implementation. He  asked whether, given that the position of Risk Manager has not yet been filled 
and that Members had posed some questions in relation to this post during past meetings, the 
Secretariat could indicate where the expertise in this area has been coming from an d, if it is already 
in the Organization, why an additional Risk Officer is necessary.  
12.15.   Regarding career pathways, the Member asked for an indication of the concrete elements of 
differentiation between expert and manager tracks, whether these would be at sen ior grades, at 
what grades the split is planned, and whether it would be reversible.  
12.16.   Regarding budgetary implications of the measures, the Member gave the example that 
improving recruitment might require more staff or external support. He added that there is already 
some external support, which has budgetary implications and that more external mobility might 
require more recruiting or more onboarding expenses. He said, from his delegation's perspective, it 
would be helpful to get an idea of the budgetary im plications of the transformation exercise even in 
its first phase.  
12.17.   A Member thanked DDG Ellard and added that he was one of the delegates who had asked 
for the briefing, noting that he found it informative.  He expressed his appreciation for the 
engagement and said his delegation is looking to be a constructive partner as the discussions go 
forward.  
12.18.   A Member thanked DDG Ellard for the briefing and for sharing the updated written 
documents. She also thanked the Secretariat for the informal discussion on 20 Se ptember with the 
transformation office, adding that it was very useful. She said it is very good to hear that the exercise 
is progressing to the implementation phase. The Member said, however, that very much along the 
lines as the Member whose comments are  summarized in paragraph 9.12 above, her delegation 
would be very interested to hear more details about developing the strategic direction, how and 
when this discussion will start, and the possible structural changes in the Organization, in particular 
when  there are budget implications. She said these aspects link to other parts of the transformation 
exercise such as staff mobility. She added that her delegation would also be very interested to hear 
more about the planned timing and content of this strategi c and structural work and how Member 
States will be able to engage.  
12.19.   A Member said her delegation found the briefing that took place on 20 September very useful 
and a valuable transparency exercise that enhanced Members' understanding of the ongoing 
transfo rmation exercise. She thanked the Secretariat for the consultations held in July on the third 
wave of data and technology and innovation. The Member also thanked DDG Ellard for her detailed 
introduction at each meeting and for the regular written documents  circulated in advance of CBFA 
meetings. She said her delegation hopes that the transformation exercise could help address some 
long-standing structural issues of the Organization, which she mentioned in the informal session on 
Tuesday and also under agend a item D, "WTO 2021 Financial Performance Report", including the 
over-expenditure on short -term staff and the prolonged process of recruitment. The Member said WT/BFA/206  
 
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  her delegation shares the concerns related to the need for a strategic and a functional structur e as 
well as regarding the Strategic Planning and Regional Country Units. She said her delegation is of 
the view that Members should be fully involved and engaged in the process.  
12.20.   A Member thanked DDG Ellard for her presentation on the transformation exerci se of the 
WTO Secretariat and said this involved a substantial amount of budgetary funds. She said that, 
therefore, her delegation expects to see more tangible results on most challenging issues, including 
proposals for the optimization of the Secretariat' s structure, talent mapping, and redeployment of 
existing staff to avoid overlapping work.  
12.21.   The representative of the EU delegation said the informal meeting was helpful as it allowed 
for a more free -flowing exchange of views on the whole process because, i n a sense, different tracks 
are going on at the same time. He added that there is also a WTO reform agenda, and that his 
delegation does not know exactly how that will evolve over the next months. He said as Members 
look at the transformation exercise, the y are also looking for a photo shoot of the Secretariat that 
could help Members understand whether there are certain parts of the Secretariat that are under 
more stress, in terms of workload, than others. He said that categorizations of who works on servin g 
committees, on the negotiating work, on research etc., as presented in the financial performance 
report are very helpful. He added that if the Secretariat is of the view that there is actually a lot 
more need on certain issues, such as explaining WTO agr eements through technical assistance, then 
this would have to be budgeted for. Another example he gave was if the Secretariat believes that 
the capacity of the Organization for research is not in line with the kind of challenges the WTO faces 
because of th e pandemic or a food security crisis, then it would be useful for Members to know. He 
said the EU delegation wants the Secretariat to have residual expertise so that when these crises or 
pressure points from outside come to the Secretariat, the knowledge w ithin the Secretariat can be 
activated. He said these are the types of questions that the EU delegation has in terms of the 
strategic review.  
12.22.   The representative of the EU delegation added that he has been less ambitious about the 
transformation because tra nsformation implies a total change to the DNA, akin to a caterpillar that 
becomes a butterfly. He noted that another Member had on many occasions referred to short -term 
staff and that there are many horizontal issues, such as promotions, on which the EU de legation had 
similar views to other Members. He said the EU delegation would like to understand how the 
Secretariat manages its 600 employees and whether the Secretariat considers that they are fit for 
purpose and there is balance within the staff between young and old. He said these are the kind of 
issues on which Members can provide a view if the Secretariat shares them with Members, as well 
as areas where the Secretariat potentially has vulnerabilities or exposure. He said these issues are 
more important  than some of the issues that the Secretariat is engaged with, such as motivating 
the staff, which the EU delegation sees as internal issues for the Secretariat.  
12.23.   DDG Ellard thanked Members for their comments, adding that she is glad so many of them 
said th at the session 20 September provided value to them, as the Secretariat had hoped.  She said 
the Secretariat is trying to give Members as much information as it can about the transformation 
exercise.  
12.24.   DDG Ellard said she recognizes that some issues about internal staff management and staff 
motivation staff may not be of direct interest to Members. However, she noted that these questions 
are important because they are ultimately questions of retention, motivation, building expertise, and 
increasing producti vity. She said she takes the EU delegation's point that the kind of questions that 
Members look at are a bit broader or a bit more overarching as to whether the Organization is fit for 
purpose.  
12.25.   Regarding the questions about strategy raised in paragraph 9.1 2, DDG Ellard said she cannot 
give a specific date of the formal launch of the strategy phase. She said that, in any event, a formal 
start date is a bit artificial because the discussions that are taking place within management about 
the transformation wor k and the Secretariat's internal analysis to share with Members concerning 
the budget involve a certain degree of analysis of where the WTO is, strategically. She reassured 
Members that the Secretariat fully intends to engage with Members when it comes to that question. 
She said the concept of strategy includes how to deploy resources within the WTO to serve Members, 
such as staff, other resources, and technology. She said all of these questions relate to the budget. 
She added that ultimately this is a ques tion for Members, highlighting that, as the Chair noted, the 
Secretariat is about to share its analysis of the budgetary situation and will in that context be WT/BFA/206  
 
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  providing Members with the information that many delegations have asked for.  She emphasized that 
the Secretariat knows that such information is essential to examining the performance of the 
Secretariat and determining its future. She reiterated that this information will be coming to 
Members shortly and that the Secretariat expects to begin to discuss  these issues at a CBFA meeting 
in early October. She added that she is aware that the discussions cannot be concluded in one day 
and that they will be ongoing. She said the pressures on the Organization are acute, just as there 
are pressures within Member s' governments, so this must be discussed fully with Members.  
12.26.   Turning to comments and questions in paragraphs 9.13 and 9.19 regarding strategy and the 
establishment of a strategy unit, DDG Ellard said the strategy unit is yet to be established.  She 
further  noted that the unit would have dedicated resources to assist the Secretariat in undertaking 
a detailed analysis of staffing and resource deployment to determine how those resources are being 
utilized now, where the needs are, and how best to use the resou rces in the future.  
12.27.   Further to this point, she responded to the question asked by a Member at paragraph 9.20 
and the comments made by the representative of the EU delegation at paragraph 9.21 about talent 
mapping and how the strategy unit would undertake t his work.  In this regard, DDG Ellard said the 
Secretariat will provide more details when it presents the budgetary situation to Members shortly. 
She noted that there are not very many areas where staff is not fully occupied and that the 
Secretariat is actu ally finding that the situation is more the other way around. She noted that there 
has been redeployment of staff where possible and sensible. She also emphasized that staffing needs 
and expertise have expanded over the years along with the work of the Sec retariat. She highlighted 
that there has been a Zero Nominal Growth budget since 2012, which is quite a long time, with a 
cap on the number of staff as well as a cap on the expenditures that can be dedicated to staff. She 
said these are issues that the Sec retariat needs to discuss with Members.  
12.28.   Regarding the question asked at paragraph 9.15 about the expert and management tracks, 
DDG Ellard said the point in the career path where the track can be selected has not yet been 
determined, noting that the issue i s under active discussion to establish the best time period. She 
said the decision has been made that the tracks could be reversible - that is, if a staff member is in 
one track and wants to change, or is interested in a particular position that became ava ilable in 
another track, the staff member would not be precluded from doing so. She further noted that 
movements back and forth would be permitted. She added that the tracks are designed to build 
particular talents and skills, with some staff interested in  becoming deep experts on particular topics, 
whether it is on the substantive or on the support side, and others more interested in managing 
teams and perhaps ultimately becoming Directors.  
12.29.   Regarding the questions and comments at paragraph 9.14 about risk management, DDG 
Ellard said the risk management position is not filled yet, but not for want of trying. She said the 
Secretariat had put out two vacancy notices and that it had been difficult to attract people at the 
right level given the grade at which th e position was advertised. She said the Secretariat is trying 
to determine how to proceed. She emphasized that risk mapping is an important part of the 
transformation process.  
12.30.   DDG Ellard responded to questions concerning the status of transformation action  on staffing 
matters. She noted that activity is focused on recruitment, mobility, career pathways, rewards, and 
the promotions process, with some more advanced than others. She said the most advanced topic 
is rewards outside of promotion, pointing to the detailed information that was circulated to Members 
and staff. She said the next topic relates to procurement, and the Secretariat expects to circulate a 
detailed note on this topic to Members shortly. DDG Ellard said that risk management is a further 
down  the line for implementation. She informed the Committee that the exercise to date on risk 
management has involved analysing the best practices that an organization like the WTO should 
have in place. She pointed to the need for risk mapping, noting that th e WTO has not undertaken 
this exercise sufficiently. She said the Secretariat has been developing a list of basic tasks to be 
done but needs a Risk Management Officer to lend expertise, further develop and implement that 
list, undertake risk mapping, analy se where the Organization's risks are, determine what the 
Secretariat should do to sensitize staff about risk, and formalize how this strategy should be taken 
into account in decision making.  
12.31.   Regarding concerns expressed by a Member at paragraph 9.19 about  over-expenditure on 
short term staff, DDG Ellard said the Secretariat entirely agrees and that the over -expenditure shows 
some structural problems. She said that the Secretariat has relied on short -term staff for a variety WT/BFA/206  
 
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  of reasons that she mentioned ea rlier in the meeting, noting that the Secretariat is concerned about 
this problem and is already taking steps to mitigate. She emphasized that short -term staff is needed 
but noted that the Secretariat must be realistic in showing Members up front how much is needed 
and how much it is intends to spend, rather than simply overspending.  
12.32.   Regarding concerns expressed by a Member at paragraph 9.19 regarding the long 
recruitment process, DDG Ellard said the Secretariat entirely agrees, adding that such a lengthy 
process has negative effects on the Secretariat. She emphasized that the Secretariat is seeking to 
improve, but it is difficult to do so when the Secretariat does not yet have a Human Resources 
Director. She said the Secretariat hopes that that situation wi ll be resolved very soon so that it can 
start to launch some of the human resources parts of transformation.  
12.33.   DDG Ellard said the Secretariat knows how important it is to engage with Members, so the 
Secretariat intends to be very specific in its discussions  with Members on the budget and to give 
ample time and opportunity.  
12.34.   Regarding the comment made by a Member at paragraph 9.10 about silos of work 
undertaken by the Secretariat to improve its work, DDG Ellard pointed to the Secretariat 
transformation exercis e, the impact of the economic situation on the budget, and questions 
concerning long -term liabilities. She noted that these issues are related and cannot be discussed in 
a vacuum. She said this is why it is so important to have a strategic vision.  
12.35.   DDG Ella rd said since MC12, the Secretariat has been asked by Members to undertake 
additional work. She added that the Secretariat is delighted by these developments. She said some 
of this additional work arose only in June during MC12, and the Secretariat must ma nage how the 
Secretariat structures its work now, in the lead up to MC13, and then beyond. In particular, the 
Secretariat must identify the challenges and the expectations for the Secretariat.  
12.36.   DDG Ellard emphasized that the economic situation has become mu ch more volatile in the 
last several months, which has changed the economic picture, and in Members' countries as well, 
and the Secretariat is conscious of how all of this fits together.  
12.37.   She concluded by saying the Secretariat looks forward to detailed discussions and will benefit 
greatly from Members' experience, views, and perspective.  
12.38.   The Chair thanked DDG Ellard for her additional comments and explanations. The Chair also 
expressed her appreciation for the informal briefing session held on 2 0 September and said she is 
looking forward to further exchanges on transformation as well as on the further development and 
preparation within the Organization.  
13  2020 AND 2021 ANNUAL REPORT ON DIVERSITY IN THE WTO SECRETARIAT – 
WT/BFA/W/605  
13.1.   An Official of the WTO Secretariat set the context for the 2020 and 2021 Diversity Report by 
reminding the Committee of Staff Regulation 3.1: "The recruitment policy of the WTO shall be to 
seek to attract and retain staff members offering the highest standards of compete nce, efficiency 
and integrity. It shall be based on the principle of equal opportunity for all, regardless of gender, 
nationality, race or religion, with the objective of ensuring the broadest possible diversification of 
the Secretariat."  
13.2.   She informed Memb ers of the Director -General's statement to Secretariat Staff, which was as 
follows: "Under my leadership, the WTO will remain firmly committed to diversity and respect."  
13.3.   The Official of the Secretariat said initial focus in the presentation was placed on a ppointments 
from developing countries and LDCs in 2021. She informed the Committee that in 2021, the number 
of nationalities represented in the Secretariat totalled 85.  She further noted that the Secretariat will 
always consider the staff member’s first na tionality when hired and will not adjust this should a staff 
member later acquire Swiss or another nationality. She said the exception would be only if the staff 
member had to relinquish his or her first nationality when acquiring another nationality.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  13.4.   She provided information on professional staff by region and gender as well as by grade and 
gender. She also mentioned that in 2021, 69.1% of support staff were female. She recalled that the 
Secretariat has established a number of internship programmes as well  as the Young Professionals 
Programme, aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of graduates from developing and Least 
Developed Countries for graduates who demonstrate an interest in a career in international trade.  
13.5.   The Official of the Secretariat made  reference to ongoing training in Diversity, Equity and 
Inclusion as well as the Gender Audit currently being undertaken with a view to identifying any 
gender -related gaps in policies and practices and subsequently implementing specific initiatives to 
address such gaps.  
13.6.   The delegate from India thanked the Secretariat for the annual report on diversity in the WTO 
Secretariat and said this report is in line with the mandate or measures adopted or proposed by his 
delegation, along with Brazil, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Pakistan, and South Africa, in document 
WT/BFA/W/198 in 2010. He said while acknowledging the essential objective to have the highest 
possible standards of competence as the primary basis for recruitment, his delegation believes that 
diversification  should remain a long -term objective of the recruitment policy of the WTO and that 
the two aspects are not mutually conflicting.  
13.7.   He stated that while his delegation appreciates the effort being made towards achieving 
diversity at the Secretariat, they also  believe that there is room for improvement. He said the staffing 
pattern still remains skewed in favour of a handful of Members. He mentioned that the developing 
countries and the LDCs account for nearly three -fourths of the WTO membership but account for  
only 30% of its staff. He said he hopes to see changes in this regard.  
13.8.   The Member complimented the Secretariat for achieving an impressive gender balance in 
staffing. He noted that balance has been achieved across the staff categories but that the gender 
gap remains a bit wider at the senior management positions compared to the lower positions. He 
said his delegation hopes to see an improvement in that regard and welcomes the gender audit that 
has been undertaken by the Secretariat.  
13.9.   He said his delegation is pleased to note the impressive performance of the various WTO 
internship programmes and called for further augmentation of these programmes as they help in 
attracting young talent to the WTO beyond their internship periods.  
13.10.   Several Members said they wel come the progress made on women's representation among 
professional staff over the years and commended the Secretariat for some actions it has taken, 
including those to improve outreach and welcome some positive trends of diversity.  
13.11.   A Member asked the Offi cial of the Secretariat to share a few more sentences regarding the 
gender audit so that Members can better understand what is being checked and what the results 
are. Referring to Table 2 on page 6, the Member said there seems to be an anomaly regarding th e 
number of applications received for Grade 10 vacancy notices in 2020, as the table showed that for 
four positions only nine applications were received. He said this markedly differs from other grades, 
and also differs from the numbers in 2021.  
13.12.   Expressing  support for the gender audit, a Member said her delegation would be interested 
to hear more about it, the questions looked at, the timelines, the kinds of recommendations the 
Secretariat expects, and whether the Members will have a chance to look at the r ecommendations 
later on.  
13.13.   A delegate said it is notable that gender equality has been greatly promoted in the 
Secretariat, with more female representation. She said the share of professional staff represented 
by developing countries and LDCs also increased from 21.6% in January 1995 to 36.3% in December 
2021. She said that meanwhile her delegation also notes that there are some entrenched trends 
that have remained for many years. She said, as an example, Europe continues to have the highest 
proportion of pro fessional staff while the proportion of other regions is obviously low. She said there 
is still great room for the improvement of the share of staff from developing Members, including 
LDCs. She said the proportion of staff members for many Members has rema ined stagnant. She then 
recalled the joint statement that China, India, Pakistan, and some other Members had issued on 
diversity and said achieving diversity is a long -term objective. She said the Secretariat's efforts WT/BFA/206  
 
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  should not only be continued but also  reinforced over time. She said her delegation remains 
committed to actively and constructively engaging with all Members and the Secretariat in pursuit 
of this important objective.  
13.14.   A delegate said her delegation noted in the report that, effective in 2017 and for statistical 
purposes, the Secretariat always considers the staff member's first nationality when hired, and will 
not adjust this, should a staff member later acquire another nationality. She added that the exception 
to this would be only if the staff member had to relinquish his or her first nationality when acquiring 
another nationality. She said, from a statistical viewpoint, for staff with dual nationalities, it seems 
that the two nationalities should both be calculated rather t han only considering the first nationality, 
so as to reflect the diversity in the Secretariat in a more accurate way. She said that her delegation 
seeks the Secretariat's clarification of this point.  
13.15.   A Member said it is always very interesting to hear abou t diversity in different organizations, 
and since this is the World Trade Organization, there is a world perspective to take care of and that 
there are of course a lot of challenges in that regard. He said that on gender, it should not be very 
difficult be cause men and women are evenly distributed into 50% -50%. He said he had heard 
comments that Europe is over -represented in professional staff. He said it might be so because the 
WTO is located in Europe. He said there is a geographical link, but maybe the C ommittee could also 
revert to the budget as Europe is contributing 38% of the budget. He asked how many Europeans 
are at Director level.  
13.16.   The Official of the Secretariat responded to the comments that had been made in paragraphs 
13.11 and 13.12 above by sta ting that the Secretariat has not yet completed the gender audit. She 
said that a staff survey has been undertaken, and policies and practices have been reviewed. She 
said the next step will be to conduct focus groups to double check the information gained  from the 
staff survey. She said the aim is to conclude the audit towards the end of the year and added that 
there had been a pause because of MC12. She said there will be a report to Members in due course 
and that initial findings are not different from t hose of the transformation exercise in the sense that 
at higher grades, women are under -represented and that the Secretariat needs to focus on clear 
career pathways for women.  
13.17.   Regarding the observations made by a Member at paragraph 13.11 above, the Offici al of the 
Secretariat said indeed there was an error. She apologized and said the Secretariat would resend 
the Table. She clarified that there had been four vacancy notices at Grade 10 in 2020, with 
20 applications received. She mentioned that the Secretar iat had noticed a mistake in Table 3, and 
she clarified that the number of short -listed applicants for grade 10 vacancies in 2020 was 18, not 
15 - 10 were female and 8 were male.  
13.18.   Referring to comments made in paragraph 13.14 above, regarding nationalities,  the Official 
of the Secretariat said this will be discussed within the Secretariat. She also said she would send 
information on the number of European Directors, in response to the question in paragraph 13.15 
above.  
13.19.   A Member said a lot of staff members ha ve more than one passport, adding that this is the 
case for many Europeans. He asked what happens when people show up with two or three passports. 
He said his question ties into earlier discussions on some HR policies that the Committee has had 
regarding d ifficulties in recruitment. He asked what examination there has been in terms of systemic 
or implicit bias in the way in which hiring takes place. He said his understanding is that most people 
have to talk to a computer and record an answer before they eve n make the threshold. He said this 
could disadvantage people from particular places as they may not be as comfortable with that 
approach. He said it may not always be a management decision that creates this, but the 
Organization would have to look at syste matically making sure that the HR systems are being 
reformed. He said Members are cognizant of these implicit obstacles.  
13.20.   A Member said his delegation would like to revisit comments made at paragraph 13.15 
above. In this regard, he asked if there is any leg al rule regulating budget, finance, and 
administrative issues, particularly as regards recruitment, that would allow an association of cause 
and effect between the level of contributions of Members and a presumed right or expectation to 
have the same propo rtion reflected in terms of staff. He asked if this is the case in the WTO or if the 
Secretariat has any knowledge regarding any other international organization.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  13.21.   Responding to the comments made in paragraph 13.20 above, an Official of the Secretariat 
said the Secretariat will continue to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the 
recruitment and selection process. She said the Secretariat places a lot of emphasis on training on 
diversity and inclusion for staff, including for panel members, a nd will continue to do so. She said 
some of the questions that had been raised would have to be discussed within the Secretariat.  
13.22.   The Chair said the Secretariat will come back with answers regarding Members' questions 
as she had noted that there is some discussion needed among the Secretariat staff. She then thanked 
the Official of the Secretariat for her report and the effort she put into it.  
13.23.   The Committee took note of the report and the comments made.  
14  2020 -2021 ANNUAL REPORT ON GRADING STRUCTURE - WT/BFA/W/606  
14.1.   An Official of the Secretariat introduced the 2020 and 2021 Annual Report on Grading 
Structure in the Secretariat, set out in document WT/BFA/W/606. He said the report provides 
information on the grading structure evolution, the gender breakdo wn by grade, and data in areas 
such as the post and staffing allocation, mobility, positions advertised, appointments, separations, 
and promotions.  
14.2.   The Official of the Secretariat presented the key tables from the report, starting with the 
grade structure on 31 December 2021 and the peak number of staff in each grade since 1995 as 
well as the evolution of each grade, both in the professional and support categories. He said the 
reduction in the number of staff at grade 10 since 2009 is significant, going fro m a peak of 118 to 
the current 76 staff. He said the number of staff in grade 12 and, to a lesser extent grade 9, has 
also decreased. The Official of the Secretariat said that during the same period the number of staff 
in grades 6 to 8 has increased. He ad ded that, in the support staff category, grade 5 remains the 
most populated grade although a reduction can be seen compared to the peak period.  
14.3.   The Official of the Secretariat also covered the staffing under the regular budget and extra -
budgetary funds, wi th a total of 627 staff under the regular budget corresponding to 92% of the 
overall staffing. He said staffing under extra -budgetary funding makes up the remaining 8%, with 
54 staff on L -post contracts and that this number includes 14 young professionals.  
14.4.   In terms of recruitment activity during 2021 the Official of the Secretariat said 41 positions 
were advertised, of which 59% were professional posts. He mentioned that the report indicates at 
which grades these positions were advertised. He added that the  period January to December 2020 
is also covered in the report. He said separations and appointments are also covered in the report, 
as are the promotions at respective grade levels, both in terms of the performance -based promotion 
exercise as well as prom otions resulting from competitive vacancy processes.  
14.5.   A Member commented on the importance of the work done over the past several years on the 
top-heavy grading structure of the Secretariat.  
14.6.   A Member said the Secretariat presented separations and new hires and the grades they have 
when they start working for the WTO. He asked whether, in the context of discussing external 
mobility, there is any data related to specific individuals that left at a certain grade and returned at 
another grade. He said providing such information graphically, if possible, or even anecdotally would 
be useful. He said his delegation's understanding is that the information on external mobility is 
currently not structured in any particular way and that it would be mainly at the initiat ive of the 
individual staff member.  
14.7.   A Member asked what the differences are between promotions on a competitive basis and 
through promotions exercises.  
14.8.   Responding to the question in paragraph 14.7. above, the Official of the Secretariat said that 
while bot h are defined as a promotion in the staff rules the processes are entirely different, with the 
former requiring a staff member to apply to a vacancy notice and win a competition for a post that 
has been advertised.  
14.9.   The Committee took note of the report and  the comments made.  WT/BFA/206  
 
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  15  WTO BUDGET AND FINANCE REPORT – 2ND QUARTER 2022 – WT/BFA/W/601  
15.1.   An Official of the Secretariat presented the Budget and Finance Report for the second quarter 
of 2022. She stated that contributions received as at the end of June were at the level of previous 
years. She stated that, in percentage terms, 65% of the Member contributions and 51% of the 
Observer contributions had been received. She added that 95 Members and 10 Observers had no 
outstanding balance.  
15.2.   The Official of the Secretari at informed the Committee that 19 Members were subject to 
Administrative Measures as at the end of June, thereof 8 under Category I, 5 under Category II, and 
6 under Category III. She said 4 Observers were subject to Category I, 2 Observers to Category II,  
and 4 Observers to Category III.  
15.3.   She said expenditure as at the end of June amounted to CHF 90 million or 54% of the budget. 
She said the principal drivers of the expenditure were short -term staff and freelance interpreters, 
as well as capital expenditure  linked to purchases of software licences and hardware, and a rise 
under expenditure for electricity and gas.  
15.4.   In response to a question regarding why the expenditure rate for short -term staff for the 
second quarter increased at a slower pace than that for the first quarter, an Official of the Secretariat 
said the short -term contracts at the end of March included commitments until the end of the 
contracts. She said, therefore, most of the commitments were already recorded in the accounting 
system at the end of March 2022 and that between March and June, the new contracts or renewals 
had fewer commitments associated with them.  
15.5.   A Member expressed concerns about Observers in arrears who were actively pursuing 
accession. He said efforts are being taken to prepare the countries for membership and that it is 
hard enough to get WTO rules accepted. He stated that if countries that already have a track record 
of not paying their contributions are brought in as Members, it would just be adding to the financial 
problems of the Organization. He said the concerned countries' assessed contributions may be small 
but nevertheless they are proportionate. He said he wanted to flag this for the Secretariat, noting 
that he takes a dim view concerning accessions of Observers  in arrears and that the Organization 
should not be rushed on such accessions.  
15.6.   In response to a question from the Member regarding whether any funds were left after the 
12th Ministerial Conference, DDG Ellard said there is a balance left in the Ministerial  Operating Fund. 
She added that if a Ministerial Conference takes place in 2023, the replenishment for 2023 and the 
current balance would be less than the CHF 1.2 million needed for a Ministerial Conference and 
therefore not sufficient. She added that if t he Ministerial Conference takes place in 2024, there would 
be sufficient funds after the 2024 replenishment.  
15.7.   The Committee took note of the report and the comments made.  
16  QUARTER 2 2022 EXTRA BUDGETARY FUNDS REPORT – WT/BFA/W/600  
16.1.   An Official of the Secretar iat reported that after two years of pandemic -related disruptions to 
technical assistance and capacity building, face -to-face activities are finally restarting at the national, 
regional, and global level. He said that as a result, expenditure levels would begin to rise, although 
they would not return to historical levels this year.  
16.2.   He drew the Committee's attention to the fact that, while the STDF shows a substantial 
balance, a large portion is related to multi -year agreements where all the funding had alre ady been 
received. He said it is for this reason that the situation was flagged with caution (yellow) because 
additional contributions would be needed to meet the demand of uncontracted commitments in the 
current year.  
16.3.   He mentioned that while the LDC MC Tr ust Fund was also flagged with caution (yellow) as of 
the end of Q2, the situation is now resolved after Japan had approved the transfer of part of its 
contributions from another trust fund to ensure there would be sufficient funding in the LDC MC 
Trust Fu nd. WT/BFA/206  
 
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  16.4.   The Committee took note of the report.  
17  OTHER BUSINESS  
17.1.   Referring to similar comments he had made in 2021, a Member said the CBFA had issued 
some important working documents over the course of the year. He said it was often difficult to find 
documents fr om previous years. He asked whether the CBFA annual report could include a 
compendium of the documents that have been submitted to and considered by the Committee during 
the year. He said this would enable Members to easily find such documents through the search 
function that will be made as an enhancement to the Documents Online platform.  
17.2.   The Member said it is important that the annual report reflect the sheer amount of work that 
goes into what the CBFA does. He said he had made a similar comment in 2021 requesting in essence 
a bibliography, adding that he just wanted to reiterate that request and ask if it is feasible or not.  
17.3.   An Official of the Secretariat confirmed that this is feasible and will be done.  
17.4.   The Committee took note of the report and th e comments made.  
18  CLOSING REMARKS  
18.1.   The Chair thanked the Committee for participating and engaging in the meeting, noting that 
there were a lot of agenda items and the discussions were intense. She thanked the Secretariat for 
its preparations for the meeting.  
18.2.   The Chair reminded the Committee that a special meeting of the CBFA will be held at the 
beginning of October to focus solely on providing an opportunity for the Secretariat to present its 
mid-term review of the budget. She added that DDG Ellard had made r eference to this as well. The 
Chair underlined that the meeting will be the beginning of the discussions, and not the end.  
18.3.   The meeting was adjourned.  
__________