RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/119 
16 November 2010 
 (10-6123) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9 NOVEMBER 2010 
 
 1. The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on 9 November 2010 
under the chairmanship of Mr. Pasi-Heikki Vaar anmaa (Finland).  The terms of reference and 
composition of the Committee are set out in documen t WT/L/44/Rev.1.  The agenda contained in 
document WTO/AIR/3648 was adopted. 
I. ADMINISTRATIVE UP-DATES AND PROGRESS REPORTS AS AT 
31 OCTOBER 2010 
A. H
UMAN RESOURCES REPORT  
2. A member of the Secretariat presented an overview of human resources by funding source, 
contract type and division.  With respect to the 24 posts approved for the biennium 2010/2011, 
Members were informed that nine posts had alrea dy been filled, the recruitment process for another 
nine posts was under way and the six remaining posts n eed to be identified by the end of 2011.  It was 
also pointed out that a high pro portion of professional staff was now  recruited at grade 6 level.  
Regarding diversity, progress was being made on the agreed actions and the annual report on diversity 
would be provided at the start of 2011.  A WTO employment leaflet had been produced and outreach 
through HR presence in public events such as Pub lic Forum, Open Day, Geneva Week etc. had 
increased.  Diversity was also being fostered thr ough the recruitment plan for the 24 posts, where 
seven recruits represented six different Members.   An update was also provided on WTO's Learning 
Programme. 
 
3. HR priorities over the next year would focus on linking output and resource planning, strengthening the WTO's performance manageme nt system, as well as reviewing the WTO's 
promotion and rewards policy, including pr eparing a biennial bonus programme.   
4. Several Members expressed interest on the results/output based approach and supported the 
Secretariat in this direction and in its priorities. 
B. WTO
 PENSION PLAN REPORT (CRP(10)13) 
5. The Secretary of the WTO Pension Plan in formed the Committee that the procurement 
exercise for the new investment advisor had been  completed and that the implementation of the 
revised strategy was progressing well.  The insu rance company covering the in-service death and 
disability risk currently funded by the Pension Plan  had also been selected.  The Management Board 
would retain the ultimate respons ibility for the determination of disability, but it would henceforth be 
able to rely not only on outside funding of the be nefits but also on an additional lawyer of medical 
expertise when considering these cases.  It was fu rther added that the existing contract with the 
consulting actuary would not be re newed beyond February 2011 and th at an invitation to tender for 
this service had been issued. WT/BFA/119 
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  C. B
UILDING PROJECT AND COMMON FACILITIES REPORT  
6. The Committee was informed that  the former HEI library had been demolished and that the 
walls of the new conference centre, which was planne d to be finished by October 2011, were being 
erected.  The noise and vibrations generated by the works were causing inconvenience to the staff.  
The renovation project was continuing and the bigg est removal so far, involving some 280 staff 
moving from the North wing to the renovated South wing, was scheduled in mid-January.  The 
selection process for the company providing equipm ent and furniture for the conference room was 
under way, and bids were about to be evaluated.  The preliminary works in the North courtyard would 
start in January 2011. 
7. With respect to the extra-muros project, the de molition of the villa and the South car park was 
scheduled for January/February.  The work on the external security perimeter, for which the funds 
would be provided by the Swiss authorities accordi ng to the established practice in this matter, would 
start in 2011 and last for a period of at least 2 years. The crèche would move to new premises in the Secheron area in 2011, freeing up the Villa Rappard for use by the Organization. 
8. One Member enquired if the Secretariat had th ought of transforming a part of the Villa 
Rappard into small meeting rooms.  The Secretaria t indicated that it would look at the project very 
carefully and come back to Members before taking  a final decision.  Another Member wanted to 
know if the bidding process for the equipment of the conference centre had been local or public.  The 
Secretariat replied that an invitation to tender had been done according to the WTO Procurement 
Policy. 
II. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2009 (WT/BFA/W/215) 
9. The Secretariat presented the audited financial performance report for 2009 and indicated that 
several changes had been made compared to the 2008 report.  From now on, the Secretariat would 
present one consolidated report, including regular  budget and extra-budgetary funds, for which one 
common audit certificate would be issued.  The gradual implementation of IPSAS was also reflected in the report, including a provision for employee benefits such as education grant, home leave and 
untaken annual leave as well as two additional statements on net assets/equity and cash flow.  Some 
future changes would include long-term employee benefits, the record of the ITC in the WTO 
financial statements and the implementation of fixed assets accounting.  The Secretariat also 
encouraged Members to provide their requests and comments to make the report more user-friendly. 
10. With respect to the WTO regular budget, it wa s reported that the consolidated budgetary 
performance of the WTO Secretariat and the Secret ariat of the Appellate Body had generated a 
budgetary saving of CHF 1.7 million on the appr oved budget of CHF 189.3 million.  The budgetary 
saving of CHF 1.5 million for the WTO was mainly du e to a lower increase in salaries than projected 
(1.3 per cent versus 2 per cent), and a saving on Tr ade Policy Courses due to the fact that two long 
trade policy courses and one short specialized course could not be held for logistical reasons.  An 
overspending related to unforeseen  renovation expenditure had b een incurred under administrative 
costs, but largely compensated by the savings mentioned above. The saving of CHF 0.2 million for 
the Appellate Body was due to savings under pe rsonnel and administrative costs.  The actual 
miscellaneous income was slightly lower than ex pected (CHF 1.3 million versus CHF 1.6 million), 
mainly due to a loss in foreign exchange relati ng to currency fluctuations of the USD and EUR 
against the CHF.  The budgetary saving, the nega tive balance of miscellaneous income, the provision 
for contributions in arrears, write-offs for invent ory and the balance of the 2008 surplus led to an 
accumulated surplus of CHF 1 million at the end of 2009.  The Director-General would shortly make 
a proposal for the use of the surplus.  WT/BFA/119 
 Page 3 
 
 
  11. The report also contained information on the pe rformance of 12 Trust Funds, with 31 million 
of voluntary contributions recei ved, expenditure of CHF 27 m illion and a year-end balance of 
CHF 25 million.  The main Fund, i.e. the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) 
focused on technical assistance training, advanced  technical assistance training, academic support for 
training and capacity building, trainee programmes, internships and e-learning. 
12. One Member indicated that the gradual adop tion of the IPSAS standards by the WTO, 
including the accruals for employee benefits, was hi ghly appreciated and expressed the hope that this 
method would also be applied to pe nsion benefits.  He also enquire d about the high saving in the area 
of Trade Policy Courses and asked for suggestions fo r improvement.  Several questions were raised in 
the area of technical assistance. Two other Memb ers requested more information on the e-learning 
programme.  The Secretariat replied that it would come back to the Members with more details. 
13. With respect to the transfers between di fferent sections of the budget, the Committee 
approved the following recommendation: 
14. The Committee takes note of the report and recommends to the General Council to 
approve the transfers between budgetary sections  as outlined in paragraphs 34 and 41 of 
document WT/BFA/W/215.  The Committee furt her recommends that the General Council 
approve the audited accounts for 2009 . 
III. SUSPENSION OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR INACTIVE MEMBERS 
A. SUSPENSION OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR THE REPUBLIC OF NIGER 
(WT/BFA/W/217) 
15. The Committee was informed that the Republic  of Niger had accepted a payment scheme to 
liquidate its outstanding contributions over a peri od of 15 years, starting in 2010.  The outstanding 
balance after the deduction due to the application of  the specific payment mechanism for arrears prior 
to 1988 as at 31 March 2010 of CHF 733,210 would be cleared by the application of a fifteen-year payment scheme.  The Chair congratulated the Repub lic of Niger for their commitment to clear their 
outstanding contributions.  The Committee approved the following recommendation: 
16. In accordance with the decision of the General Council of 15 May 2006, the Committee 
on Budget, Finance and Administration recomm ends that the General Council suspend the 
application of administrative measures for the Republic of Niger, which agrees to, and 
undertakes to abide by, a schedule of instalment payments aimed at liquidating all arrears over 
a period of 15 years starting on 1 January 2010.   The payments must be received no later than 
31 December of each year, failing which the administrative measures will be reinstated . 
IV. DOCUMENTATION STRATEGY:  REDUCING THE WTO CARBON FOOTPRINT 
(CRP(10)14) 
 
17. A member of the Secretariat reported that, as a contribution to  the reduction of the WTO's 
carbon footprint, the Secretariat had been progressive ly reducing the printing and distribution of paper 
documents.  This had been made possible largel y by digital printing techniques, on demand 
distribution and "pull" access to Documents Online ( DOL).  These measures had not only resulted in 
more efficient distribution but also made it possible to reduce the amount of space allocated to document storage in the different WTO buildings.  Delegations were already benefiting from online 
facilities and, as of 2011, several new services were planned for them, with the objective of further encouraging online distribution. WT/BFA/119 
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  18. In 2011, the new version of Documents On line (DOL2) would introduce an electronic 
subscription service, whereby documents would be di spatched automatically by email according to 
the specific profile defined by a Delegate (area of in terest, language, etc.).  There would also be a shift 
from one user id and password by Delegation to an individual user id and password for each Delegate, thus allowing him/her to specify a personal profile. As a corollary to this 
initiative, Members could subscribe to the online dispatch of airgrams.  The Secretariat also 
announced that a training and briefing session on docu ment consultation and distribution would be 
organized shortly for Delegation Coordinators. 
19. Several Members expressed interest in the strategy and expressed a desire for more 
consultations on these proposals to ensure that Members' wishes were fully taken into account. 
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESULT-BASED MANAGEMENT IN TECHNICAL 
ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES 
20. Members were informed that result-based mana gement was already widely used in the UN 
bodies and also under specific programmes such as the EIF, the STDF and JITAP. The Secretariat was in the process of developing an approach to in tegrate result-based management into its technical 
assistance programmes.  It would allow better meas urement of the impact of technical assistance 
activities. Many donors supported this type of appr oach.  A draft concept note would be presented to 
Members in spring 2011.  Currently, consultations  were being conducted with WTO Divisions and 
Management on the one hand and Members, regiona l groups and regional de velopment banks on the 
other.  On this basis, a comprehensive logical  framework would be built and the specific objectives 
and expected outcomes, based on indicators, would be  defined.  Several specific pilot programmes to 
test the approach would be launched.  Result-based  management would be fully integrated in the 
biennial technical assistance plan for 2012/2013. 
21. The next meeting was scheduled to take place in the week starting Monday 22 November to 
discuss the Mid-term budget review.  
22. A further meeting is already scheduled for M onday 6 December at 10 AM with the President 
of the French Court of Audit. 
 
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