PRESS RELEASE 
 
PRESS/415 
29 July 2005 
 
(05-3447) 
DIRECTOR-GENERAL 
Lamy announces his four Deputy Directors-General  
Director-General Designate Pascal Lamy today informed the General Council of the four people he 
has chosen to be his deputy directors-general. 
 Mr. Lamy, who assumes office on 1 September, told the General Council in a statement that he 
has selected Alejandro Jara of Chile, Valentine Rugwabiza of Rwanda, Harsha Singh of India and 
Rufus Yerxa of the United States.  Their terms of office will begin on 1 October.  
Amb. Jara, currently Chile's ambassador to the WTO since 2000, has served in the Chilean 
Government since 1976.  Ms. Rugwabiza has served as Rwanda's Ambassador to the WTO since 2002 and is the first woman ever appointed as a Deputy Director-General for the World Trade 
Organization.  Mr. Singh, currently Secretary of India's Telecom Regulatory Authority, is a former 
member of the WTO Secretariat.  Mr. Yerxa, a former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, has served the last three years as Deputy Director-General to Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi. 
 
"I am very pleased that these outstanding individuals have agreed to be my deputies. This is a very strong team to lead the WTO Secretariat into a crucial stage in the Doha Development 
Agenda negotiations. The coming months of prep aration for the December Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference will be instrumental to the future of  our negotiations. I look forward to working with 
my team and with Member Governments in the months and years to come," Mr. Lamy said. 
 
Alejandro Jara 
Biographical Note  
Alejandro Jara was born in 1949 in Santiago, Chile. He studied high school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
and Santiago, Chile.  In 1973 he obtained his law degree from the Universidad de Chile.  With the support of a Fulbright scholarship he pursued graduate studies at the Law School, University of 
California at Berkeley (1975-1976).   
 In 1976 he joined the Foreign Service of Chile where he has specialized in international economic 
relations.  He served in the Delegation of Chile to the GATT in Geneva (1979-1984) and was 
seconded to the Economic System for Latin Amer ica (SELA) in Caracas as Coordinator for Trade 
Policy Affairs.  He was appointed Director for Bilateral Economic Affairs (1993-1994), Director for 
Multilateral Economic Affairs (1994-1999).  During 1996 – 1997 he also served as Chile’s Senior 
Official to APEC. At the same period he was de puty Chief negotiator for the Chile – Canada Free 
Trade Agreement and in 1997-1998 he was Chief negotiator for the Chile – Mexico Free Trade PRESS/415 
Page 2 of 3 
 
 
 Agreement.  In July 1999 he was designated Director General for International Economic 
Relations. 
 In June 2000 he was appointed as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Chile to the World 
Trade Organization in Geneva.  During 2001 he served as Chairperson of the Committee on Trade 
and Environment of the WTO. In February 2002 he was elected as Chairman of the Special Session 
of the Council for Trade in Services, which is in charge of the negotiations mandated by Ministers 
in Doha.  He is author of numerous articles and papers on international trade. 
 Mr. Jara is married to Daniela Benavente and has two children. 
 
Valentine Sendanyoye-Rugwabiza 
Biographical Note  
Valentine Sendanyoye-Rugwabiza has extensive work experience in senior Government and 
private sector positions. Over the last three years she has served simultaneously as Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Head of Delegation to the WTO and Ambassador 
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland.  She was also Deputy Head of Delegation for her 
country’s first Trade Policy Review in 2004.  
Prior to her current assignment she was adviser at  the Council of Economic and Social Affairs in 
the Office of the Rwandan President in Kigali.  In this capacity, she has represented the Government of Rwanda in numerous international conferences. 
 
Before joining government service in 2000, Amba ssador Sendanyoye-Rugwabiza managed her own 
company which she had established on her return to Rwanda in 1997.  Previously she had worked 
for eight years as a senior manager with a major Sw iss multinational company, first as head of its 
commercial development and marketing operations for Central Africa, based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and then as its regional manager for Ce ntral and West Africa, based in Abidjan, Côte 
d’Ivoire. 
 Ambassador Sendanyoye-Rugwabiza  is a founding member of the Rwandese Private Sector 
Federation, the Rwanda Women Entrepreneurs’ Or ganization and the Rwandese Women Leaders’ 
Caucus.  
She has been Coordinator of the African Group in  the WTO.  She is one of the two Ambassadors 
representing the LDCs in the Integrated Framewor k Working Group.  She initiated the Integrated 
Framework in Rwanda. 
 
Ambassador Sendanyoye-Rugwabiza obtained both her degree and masters degree in sciences from the National University of Zaire (n ow RDC) respectively in 1985 and 1988.  
 
Harsha Vardhana Singh 
Biographical Note 
Harsha Vardhana Singh is the Secretary cum Principal Advisor of the Telecom Regulatory Authority 
of India (TRAI).  He is involved in all policy initiatives of TRAI and he is responsible for all interactions of TRAI with national and international agencies/bodies, including multilateral 
agencies, regulatory bodies, and the relevant bodies in the Indian Parliament. 
 PRESS/415 
Page 3 of 3 
 
 
 Mr. Singh  has also served as a counsellor to th e Office of the Director General on the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization Secretariat (1996-97).  He served as a 
counsellor in the Trade and Environment and Technical Barriers to Trade Division (1995-96) and the Rules Division (1991-95) after having served as an Economic Affairs Officer (1985-91).  He has 
recently been made an Honorary Professor at ICRIER .  He is also a member of the visiting faculty 
at the TERI School of Advanced Studies for th eir  program on M.A. in Regulatory Studies. 
 
Mr. Singh holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Oxford.  
 
Rufus H. Yerxa 
Biographical Note 
Rufus H. Yerxa has served as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
since 2002.   
 
Mr. Yerxa has an extensive record as a trade dipl omat and lawyer.  He served as U.S. Ambassador 
to the GATT, the predecessor organization to  the WTO, and later as Deputy U.S. Trade 
Representative in Washington. Prior to this he was with the U.S. House of Representatives, where 
he was Staff Director of the Trade Subcommittee.   
After leaving government service in 1995 he moved to Brussels as resident partner with a major 
U.S. law firm.  He subsequently served as Euro pean General Counsel and then Vice President and 
International Counsel for a major pharmaceuticals and agro-food company.  
 
Mr. Yerxa received his bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, his Juris Doctor from the University of Puget Sound  and an advanc ed degree in international law from Cambridge 
University. He is a member of the Washington State and District of Columbia bars. 
  
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