RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/109 
15 April 2009 
 (09-1788) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 MARCH 2009 
 
 1. The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on 17 March 2009 under 
the successive chairmanships of Mr. Henning St irø (Norway) and Ambassador Marie-Claire 
Swärd Capra (Sweden).  The term s of reference and composition of the Committee are set out in 
document WT/L/44/Rev.1.  The agenda contai ned in document WTO/AIR/3330/Rev.1 was adopted 
with two items under 'Other Business'. 
I. ADMINISTRATIVE UP-DATES AND PROGRESS REPORTS AS AT 
28 FEBRUARY 2009 
A. WTO
 BUDGET AND FINANCE REPORT (CRP(09)01) 
2. A member of the Secretariat presented the situation regarding Members' contributions as at 
28 February 2009 showing that CHF 73 million of the assessed CHF 183 million had been received 
and that 38 Members or 25 per cent of the Membership had no outstanding balance.  Payments received from Observers represented 20 oer cent of th e total assessment of 0.8 million.  Generally, a 
slowdown in the payment of contributions had been observed since February and CHF 30 million 
would needed to be received in March to reach the same level of contributions paid as in 2008.  With 
respect to Members under Administrative Measures, it was reported that 26 Members were currently under Administrative Measures, of which three in Ca tegory I, two in Category II, four in Category III 
and 17 Members in Category IV (Inactive).   
3. The cash situation showed that the WT O held CHF 101 million on its bank accounts, 
including the working capital fund and extra-budgetary  funds.  It was added that the cash situation 
was adequate, but that a slowdown in contribution payment could negatively impact the cash situation 
of the Organization. 
4. With regard to the budget performance in 2008, Members were informed that the un-audited 
accounts showed a consolidated budgetary surplus of some CHF 1 million.  Variations between 
budget and estimated expenditure were mainly due to two unforeseen projects, i.e. CHF 3.5 million 
for the renovation and relocation expenses with respect  to the temporary premises at the Chemin des 
Mines, and CHF 1.6 million related to the TN C horizontal process that took place in 2008.  
5. The budget performance as at 28 February 20 09 showed that budget expenditure was 
generally on track.  
6. One Member expressed concern with respect to outstanding contributions of countries in the 
accession process.  Several other Members expressed their interest in consultations regarding 
outstanding contributions of countries under accession. 
B. E
XTRA -BUDGETARY FUNDS REPORT (CRP(09)02) 
7. The Committee was informed that, for each year of the biennium 2008-2009, the target 
amount of the DDAGTF (Doha Development Age nda Global Trust Fund) had been set at 
CHF 24 million.  As at end of February, taking into account the provisional balance brought forward WT/BFA/109 
Page 2 
 
 from 2008, total funds available stood at CHF 11.1 m illion.  Some CHF 6.8 million of contributions 
had been pledged by Germany, the Netherlands, No rway and Sweden and should be received by the 
Secretariat in March.  Therefore, CHF 6.1 million were  still needed to be contributed in order to reach 
the CHF 24 million target figure.  It was added th at the European Communities had also indicated 
their intention to contribute EUR 1 million in 2009.   
C. H
UMAN RESOURCES REPORT (CRP(09)03) 
8. A member of the Secretariat reported that the WTO Learning Programme focussed on four 
major areas:  (i) the introduction of the new Pe rformance Management System and the Competency 
Framework which had been presented to the Secretaria t staff in several sessions;  (ii) training for 
directors, a senior level programme to assist director s to address their role in the Secretariat and the 
role of the Secretariat in 2009 and beyond;  (iii) training for supervisors providing an overview of the 
role and people management expectations in the S ecretariat;  and (iv) several trade related technical 
training programmes in order to promote learning across functional areas and expertise within the 
Secretariat. 
9. An up-date on temporary assistance positions financed from the regular budget as well as 
from extra-budgetary funds was also provided. 
10. Several Members expressed the wish to encourag e mobility in the Secretariat.  One Member 
expressed the concern that long-term temporary assistance contracts such as two lasting for 32 and 30 months, respectively, could eventually pose a problem.  
11. The Secretariat replied that an exercise on mobility had already been  conducted in 2008, 
where 15 employees had been moved to 13 different divisions and that a similar exercise was foreseen 
to be repeated at the end of every year.  With rega rd to long-term temporary assistance, the Secretariat 
stated that it was alert to the problem and that st eps would be taken to avoid any legal difficulties. 
D. WTO
 PENSION PLAN (CRP(09)04) 
12. The Secretary to the WTO Pension Plan explained that the Management Board had completed 
its examination of possible measures to correct th e actuarial deficit resulting from the 2007 valuation 
and adopted by consensus a set of recommendations  for consideration by the CBFA and the General 
Council.  
13. With regard to the coverage of death and di sability risks by the Plan, the Board would be 
examining possible alternative ways of funding and/ or administering both work-related and non-work 
related risks in a special session in March.   
14. With respect to the review of the investment strategy of the Plan, it was reported that the 
Management Board had decided to carry out an asset  optimization study in order to define an asset 
portfolio structure meeting the long-term investment  return objective of the Plan at minimum risk. 
E. BUILDING PROJECT REPORT  
15. A member of the Secretariat recalled that the bu ilding project consisted of four sub-projects:  
(i) the renovation of the CWR building;  (ii) the dens ification via the project intra-muros;  (iii) the 
new building (extra-muros);  and (iv) the establis hment of a security fence around the WTO premises. 
16. With respect to the renovation, Members were informed that preparat ory works to install a 
modern electric and electronic in frastructure that would link all premises after their renovation had 
taken place from July 2008 to January 2009.  The fi rst stage of office renovation was about to start 
and would be finished in October 2009.  Th e office renovation would be conducted in seven  WT/BFA/109 
 Page 3 
 
 
  successive stages and be completed in December 2012 with the renovation of the main entrance and 
room W. 
17. The intra-muros project was also well advan ced.  The plans had been approved by the 
Steering Committee and the documents for the tender  would be established in the coming months.  
The technical document for the voting of the loan would be sent to Berne in April.  The loan is due to 
be approved by the Swiss Confederation beginning of 2010.  It was added that the cost of the intra-
muros project amounted to CHF 20 million and that works were expected to begin in June 2010. 
18. Regarding the extra-muros project, it was reported that 250 architectural offices from 
25 member countries of the WTO had participated in the architectural competition.  115 projects had 
been received within the deadline.  The jury, composed of the Chai r of the CBFA, a representative of 
the host country, the Secretariat and independent ar chitects, selected eight designs for prizes and had 
awarded the first prize to 'Wittfoht Archittekten' from Stuttgart, citing the project's elegance, discretion and respect for the environment.  The pr oject would cost CHF 40 million, financed by the 
loan from the Host Country and another CHF 10 mill ion for the underground parking financed by the 
Host Country according to the Agreement with the Sw iss Confederation.  The construction was due to 
start in January 2011 and be completed in December 2012. 
19. The Chair informed the committee on his particip ation in the Steering Committee and the jury 
for the architectural competition and indicated that hi s main focus had been on cost control.  Many of 
the challenges in the project were still to come, howev er, his sense was that the project was so far on 
track.  
20. Replying to questions from several Members, th e Secretariat explained that there were three 
major risks related to the project:  (i) the reclassification of the land;  (ii) a possible negative referendum at the city level and cantonal level;  a nd (iii) the possible listing of the CWR building as a 
historical monument.  Some Members pointed to the importance of providing the public with adequate information on the project. 
21. The Committee took note of the various reports. 
II. ACTUARIAL POSITION OF THE WTO PENSION PLAN – RECOMMENDATIONS 
BY THE MANAGEMENT BOARD (WT/BFA/W/179) 
22. The Chairman of the WTO Pension Plan Mana gement Board recalled that, following the 
advice of an expert working group and its cons ulting actuary, two key assumptions underpinning the 
actuarial valuation of the Plan at 31 December  2007 had been modified, resulting in an actuarial 
deficit.  Consequently, the required contribution ra te had increased to 27 per cent compared to the 
current contribution rate of  22.5 per cent, making it necessary to take early action to bring the Plan 
into balance. The Management Board had examined  various ways of adjusting benefits and/or 
contributions in order to correct the deficit of 4. 5 percentage points.  After considerable discussion 
over several months, the Board had decided by consensus to recommend to the General Council a 
combined approach to the correction of the defic it, including the adjustment of two thirds, i.e. 
2.8 percentage points, through the increase of the normal retirement age from 62 to 65, and the remaining third, i.e. 1.8 percentage points, throug h the increase of the contribution rate, shared on a 
2:1 basis between the Organization and the Plan participants, respectively. 
23. He further pointed out that the Management Bo ard was of the view that its recommendations 
represented a reasonable way forward, with Plan partic ipants being asked to bear the major part of the 
burden.  The Board was looking forward to the CBF A resuming its consideration of the matter on a 
priority basis, with a view to endorsing the recomme ndations of the Board for approval by the General 
Council at its next meeting in May. WT/BFA/109 
Page 4 
 
 24. Some Members indicated that they could support the Board's recommendations. Other 
Members asked for more information on the assumpti ons of the consulting actuary and on trendlines. 
One Member indicated that a higher retirement age c ould be considered on its own merits, separately 
from the actuarial position of the Pension Plan. 
III. WTO LIBRARY (CRP(09)05 
25. Members were informed that, at the request  of a Member, the WTO had conducted a study 
with respect to the circulation policy of the WTO Libr ary.  In a survey undertaken in February 2009, 
347 books were recorded as overdue or lost by 154 users. Of these users, 26 Member delegates 
accounted for 25 overdue and ten lo st books.  128 Secretariat sta ff accounted for 299 overdue and 
13 lost books.  It was added, that the average co st of replacing lost books was estimated at CHF 40 
and that, if all overdue books were to become lost , the replacement cost would reach CHF 12,960.  It 
was further reported that a new policy for the manage ment of overdue and lost  books was being put in 
place.  Once finalized this policy woul d be communicated to the Committee. 
IV. OTHER BUSINESS 
1. Revision of Administrative Measures 
26. The Chair of the Committee explained that a first revision of the Administrative Measures had 
been conducted in 2006, subject to a review of th e revised measures by March 2008.  Discussions had 
started in spring 2008 and the chair had sent out faxes to Members from Category II to Category IV 
alerting them to their outstanding contributions.  Several positive responses from Members had been 
received.  In the autumn, due to the change of ch air, the Committee had decided to defer this item to 
its first meeting in 2009.  As another change of  chair was scheduled for the current meeting, the 
outgoing Chair of the CBFA had not considered it appropriate to resume discussions on that issue. 
27. The Committee took note of the information. 
2. Parking Space 
28. A Member expressed his concern with respect to  the drastically reduced amount of parking 
space available for delegates as a result of the renov ation work at CWR, resulting in a considerable 
loss of time and efficiency for the Organization.   The Member proposed a better regulation of the 
CWR parking regarding intra-day parking, the estab lishment of additional street parking spaces close 
to the WTO and also the regulation of the Sécheron car  park in order to allow for a larger share of 
delegate parking spaces and to improve access to and from the car park. 
29. The Committee took note of the proposal. 
V. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON 
30. The Chair recalled that the General Council at its meeting in February had taken note of a 
slate of names of officers for the various WTO sta nding bodies.  On the basis of the understanding 
reached, he proposed that the Committee on Budget , Finance and Administration formally elect 
Ambassador Marie-Claire Swärd-Capra as new chair of the Committee by acclamation.  The 
Committee so agreed.  
 
31. Ambassador Swärd-Capra assumed the Chair, thanked the Committee for its confidence and 
indicated that she looked forward to a fruitful year in 2009. 
__________