WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/W/210 
15 September 2010 
 (10-4660) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
SPONSORSHIP PROPOSAL 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The Secretariat is inviting Members to partic ipate through sponsorship in the different 
projects for the fitting up and equipping of the WTO's common facilities.  The objective of these 
projects is to offer users, delegates and staff members common areas that meet the requirements of improved working conditions and to provide them, inter alia , with access to high-quality furnishings 
and technology. 
2. These common areas will serve as meeting spaces,  conducive not only to communication and 
the exchange of ideas, but also to work, and will have the advantage of being the most open areas of 
the WTO. 
3. The construction project described in Section 3 below will entail the delivery of usable spaces 
and is covered by a separate budget. 
II. FINANCING/SPONSORSHIP 
4. The construction project budget covers the c onstruction work, including flooring and the 
lighting of the common facilities.  The remain ing equipment and furniture are covered by: 
• The Members' Transition Operating Fund of CHF 8,051,716; 
• the regular budget; 
• budget savings. 
5. However, these funds will be insufficient to  cover all of the expenses involved.  
Consequently, the Secretariat is consid ering other funding options, such as: 
• Agreements with caterers whereby they c over the cafeteria and coffee shop costs; 
• Member sponsorship. 
6. Individual Members or groups of Members are invited to sponsor certain common facilities: 
• Either by contributing a sum of money for the WTO to incorporate into the planned 
project expenditures; 
• or by financing targeted expenses such as furniture or certain batches of equipment 
(audiovisual, sound, interpretation, etc.); WT/BFA/W/210 
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  • or by purchasing the equipment and having it installed themselves, subject to its 
compatibility with the technical standards required by the Secretariat. 
7. A Secretariat team is in charge of the Common Facilities project.  In cooperation with 
Members, it will be responsible for developing the project, for communication, and for following up the sponsorship. 
8. In exchange for sponsorship, arrangement s could be made for the common facilities 
concerned to: 
• Display the name of the Members that fina nced them or a plaque to that effect; 
• exhibit artworks by the sponsors; 
• be the subject of a press release; 
• be officially inaugurated; 
• be made available to the sponsoring Members for major events. 
III. CONSTRUCTION PROJECT 
9. The purpose of the WTO construction project is  to renovate and extend the premises of the 
Centre William Rappard (CWR).  It is fi nanced by a grant of CHF 70 million from the 
Swiss Confederation and by a zero interest loan of CHF 60 million from the FIPOI ( Fondation des 
Immeubles pour les Organisations Internationales ).  The project will entail the delivery of usable 
spaces to be furnished and equipped.  It will be completed in 2013 and comprises the following 
elements: 
A. R
ENOVATION WORK 
 This includes: 
 
• Insulation of facades and roofing; 
• creation of new offices and meeting rooms; 
• creation of premises housing p hotocopiers and printers; 
• installation of showers on each floor; 
• installation of technical service shafts and a new cable infrastructure. 
B. INTRA -MUROS WORK 
 This includes the creation of: 
 
• New conference rooms in the south courtyard; 
• a north courtyard atrium; 
• new meeting rooms;  WT/BFA/W/210 
 Page 3 
 
 
  • a Coffee Shop and services for delegates around the atrium, such as the periodicals 
room or the delegates' lounge. 
C. EXTRA -MUROS WORK 
 The WTO will have a new building, an extension of the CWR, which will feature: 
 
• Approximately 300 workplaces; 
• an underground car park for 200 vehicles; 
• a new Cafeteria/Restaurant; 
• a new library. 
IV. PROJECTS FOR WHICH SPONSORSHIP OFFERS ARE INVITED 
10. The total budget for equipping and furnishing the Common Facilities is estimated at between 
CHF 16 and 18 million.  This is an estimated figure for the time being;  it is likely to change as each 
project moves forward and takes more definite shape, and following the receipt of bids. 
A. NEW SOUTH COURTYARD CONFERENCE ROOMS  
Start of project: April 2011 
Completion of project: September 2011 Estimated budget: CHF 4,500,000 
 11. The south courtyard will house a new conference ce ntre composed of three rooms with a total 
capacity of 400 places, together with all the in frastructure needed for the smooth conduct of 
WTO conferences;  a roof garden will be visible from the offices facing the courtyard.  The new 
conference centre will consist of three modulable rooms (S1, S2, S3). 
12. Room S1 will have 217 seating places, incl uding 13 on the chairperson's podium and 
34 equipped for listening only.  It will also have a control room and six simultaneous interpretation 
booths.  A so-called dummy interpretation booth is al so planned.  Rooms S2 and S3 will each have 
108 seats, including six for the chairperson's podium.  A control room and three simultaneous 
interpretation booths will be installed. 
13. The modulability of rooms S1, S2 and S3 means that  they can be converted into room S5 with 
417 seating places, including 19 for the chairperson' s podium and 34 equipped for listening only.  
It would also have a control room a nd six simultaneous interpretation booths. 
14. Equipment for the conference centre will include: 
• Furniture
:  standard or fitted furniture;  all furn iture should be light and stable, easy to 
move and adaptable to the various room configurations.  The design will combine 
flexibility, elegance and dynamism, while guaranteeing visual harmony. 
The technical equipment and discussion systems will be fitted into the tables, with 
integrated and protected connections a nd equipment linkages facilitating direct 
functional access so as to obviate connection problems, distortions and wear and tear 
on cabling. 
 WT/BFA/W/210 
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  • Audiovisual system
:  audio and video streams from a room and audio streams from 
interpretation booths in the room will be cap able of transmission to other conference 
rooms in the building.  Audio streams fro m the room and the interpretation booths 
will be digitally recorded on existing industr ial-type digital recording devices, for 
subsequent use by the transcribers. 
It will be possible for all interventions (p articipants, interprete rs, telephone) to be 
recorded by digital recording devices. 
 
Each of two or more fixed cameras per room will be trained on the chairperson's podium and the room itself.  Automatic pa n/tilt dome cameras will be voice-activated 
by participants at their posts. 
 
• Management systems
:  a touch-screen management system is planned for the control 
of all audiovisual devices, lighting, ai r conditioning and heating from the podiums 
and the control rooms.  The system will enable a presentation, a soundtrack video or any other electronic document to be broad cast in the room and on the interpreters' 
screens. 
Each place will be identified by electronic tabletop display of the respective country 
name. 
 
Conference room reservation will be by software accessible to different categories of users. 
 
• Discussion and simultaneous interpretation systems
:  participants will each have a 
seating place equipped with a discussi on post with headphone and microphone, 
enabling them to ask to speak and to take the floor. 
Interpretation booths, with a direct view ove r the rooms, will be used for simultaneous 
translation of statements in several languages. 
 
The meeting secretary will manage the meeting on the basis of a list of speakers 
which will be displayed to show requests fo r the floor and the time allotted to each 
participant. 
 
It will be possible to integrate telec onferencing into the discussion systems. 
 
• Computer systems :  the chairpersons' podiums will be equipped with connections to 
the WTO wired computer network.  A dedicated or other PC will be used to broadcast a presentation, a soundtrack video or any other electronic document in the room and 
on the interpreters' screens. 
Access to the WiFi internet network will be ma de available in the room.  This visitors 
network may be extended to the renovated CWR conference rooms and to other areas 
in the WTO building(s). 
 
Webcasting facilities will be provided, as will facilities for streaming to an external 
supplier responsible for public webcasting over the Internet. 
  WT/BFA/W/210 
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  B. NORTH COURTYARD ATRIUM  
Start of project: January 2012 
Completion of project: June 2012 Estimated budget: CHF 1,008,000 
 
15. Covering the north courtyard will create a new in terior space in the middle of the building.  
As the nerve centre for the single site, this space w ill lend itself to the creation of reception facilities.  
At the same time, in terms of scale and volume, it will become a symbolic focal point for the WTO.  
It will include: 
• A Coffee Shop; 
• a lounge; 
• a periodical room; 
• a delegates' lounge; 
• press rooms; 
• a bookshop. 
 C. E
XISTING MEETING ROOMS  
Sector I  
 
Start of project: February 2012 Completion of project: June 2012 
Estimated budget: CHF 2,932,000 
 
Sector VIII
 
 
Start of project: July 2012 
Completion of project: October 2012 
Estimated budget: CHF 2,220,000 
 16. These existing CWR rooms, i.e. Rooms A, B, C, D, E and X (Sector I) and Rooms F and W 
(Sector VIII), will be renovated under the superv ision of FIPOI and with financing from the 
Confederation as part of the overall renovation project .  Once this work has been completed, the 
current equipment will be replaced by new systems compatible with those mentioned above for the 
south courtyard conference centre. 
D. C
OFFEE SHOP 
Start of project: September 2011 
Completion of project: January 2012 
Estimated budget: CHF 693,000  
 17. The area adjacent to the atrium, on the ground floor overlooking the lake, will house the new 
Coffee Shop similar to the one currently located in  the Salle des Pas Perdus.  A dining room with 
waiter service is also planned. WT/BFA/W/210 
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  E. C
URRENT CWR  LIBRARY  
Start of project: July 2012 
Completion of project: October 2012 Estimated budget: CHF 756,000 
 
18. The current CWR library will be transformed in to a meeting room.  Like all of the other 
meeting rooms, it will have to be properly equipped and furnished.  However, for technical reasons it 
will not be equipped with  interpreters' booths. 
F. R
ESTAURANT IN THE NEW BUILDING  
Start of project: September 2012 
Completion of project: December 2012 
Estimated budget: CHF 1,386,000 
 19. The new WTO building will house a restaurant which will serve as a meeting place for all 
WTO staff, visitors and conference participants.  It  will have a capacity of 250  places, and will also be 
able to host receptions. 
G. L
IBRARY IN THE NEW BUILDING  
Start of project: September 2012 
Completion of project: December 2012 Estimated budget: CHF 630,000 
 
20. This library will play an important role in th e functioning of the WTO.  Among other things it 
will include a reading room, a notice board area, and a periodicals storage area. 
V. CONTACTS 
21. Members or groups of Members interested in sponsorships are invited to contact Deputy 
Director-General Yerxa, specifying: 
• The common facility/facilities they wish to finance; 
• the means of financing; 
• the amount involved. 
22. The sponsorship proposal will be presented at the next CBFA. 
_______________ 
  WT/BFA/W/210 
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  ANNEX 
 
Common Facilities Sponsorship Form  
  
Members interested in sponsoring Common Faciliti es projects are asked to fill out this form. 
 1. Name of Member:  2. Does the Member wish to participate: 
 
 Individually? 
 As part of a group (together with other Members)? 
 Name of partner Members: 
 
  3. How does the sponsor or group of sponsors wish to participate in the funding of projects?  
 By paying an amount to be incorporated into the planned project expenditures: 
 
 Amount:  
 By financing specific projects (question 4) 
 By assuming responsibility, subject to compatibility  with the technical standards required by the 
Secretariat, for: 
  
 The purchase of specific equipment 
  The installation of specific equipment 
 Equipment concerned: 
 
    
 
  4. Which project(s) does the sponsor or group of sponsors wish to finance?  
 New conference rooms in the south courtyard 
 
 Amount:  
 Atrium 
 
 Amount: 
   
 
 WT/BFA/W/210 
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   Existing meeting rooms 
  Amount:  
 Coffee Shop 
 
 Amount:  
 Current CWR library 
 
 Amount: 
 
 Restaurant in the new building 
  Amount: 
 
 Library in the new building 
  Amount:  5. Comments/suggestions 
 
    
 
     
 
 
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