RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/M/101 
4 April 2006 
 (06-1573) 
General Council 
8 February 2006  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 8 February 2006  
 
Chairman:  Ms Amina Mohamed (Kenya) 
 
 
Subjects discussed : Page  
1. Report by the Chairman of th e Trade Negotiati ons Committee ..........................................1  
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the 
Dedicated Session of the Committ ee on Trade and Development ........................................8  
3. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 
1994 – Communications from Honduras and Guatemala – Statement by the 
Chairman....................................................................................................................... ............9  
4. Committee on Budget, Finan ce and Administration ...........................................................16  
(a) Report of the Committee on its meetings  of October and November 2005..............................16  
(b) Recommendation of the Committee following its meeting of February 2006..........................17  
5. Derestriction of GATT 1947 Official Docu ments – Statement by the Chairman .............18  
6. Appointment of Officer s to WTO Bodies .............................................................................19  
7. Statement by Cuba on transparency.....................................................................................22  
8. Chairmanship of the Working Party on the Accession of Montenegro .............................23  
9. Election of Chairperson........................................................................................................ ..23 
 
 
1. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee 
1. The Chairman  invited the Director-General, as Chairman of the Trade Negotiations 
Committee, to report on the TNC's activities since his last report to the Council. 
2. The Director-General, Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee , said that since the 
Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference, the TNC had held one formal meeting on 7 February.  This first meeting of what could only be a cruc ial year for the negotiations launched at Doha 
confirmed three clear messages received from a wide range of Members since the beginning of 2006:  
first, there was widespread commitment to making good on what had been agreed in Hong Kong;  
second, there was a shared intention to move ah ead across the whole of the DDA, making progress on 
all issues;  and third, all understood that they w ould have to move from their current positions, and 
were willing to do so by moving "in concert".  Clea rly, agriculture – in particular market access and 
domestic support – and NAMA remained the flagships of the convoy, but there was no doubt the WT/GC/M/101 
Page 2  
 
 convoy was a large one.  These three issues – mark et access and domestic support in agriculture, and 
industrial tariffs – had an important role in leadi ng the convoy to port, but all knew the convoy had to 
arrive together.  This was the very essence of the principle of the "single undertaking".  From what 
had been said at the TNC, it was also clear that all attached the highest importance to making progress 
in all the various areas of the negotiations, in keeping with the single undertaking, and that for all, the 
calendar of work set out by Ministers in the Hong Kong Declaration clearly governed the work ahead. 
3. Most delegations had seen the pa per on timelines he had circulated in advance of the TNC 
meeting as a useful working tool (Job(06)/13), and a number of suggestions had been made as to how 
it might be improved.  However, as he had underlin ed at the TNC meeting, this paper should not 
become an item of negotiation in its own right, did not impose any new obligations on Members and 
had not been proposed for adoption by the TNC.  It  was simply a tool to focus minds.  Also, as 
expressed at the meeting, the only way to improve on the timelines would be to accelerate the work in 
the different negotiating groups.  On process, all had sh ared the view that work had to continue to be 
based on a bottom-up approach, and that the process shoul d be open, transparent and inclusive.  It was 
only fair to say that much had been done to impr ove the functioning of the process and to ensure a 
good balance between efficiency and legitimacy.  He was also certain that there was room for 
improvement, and all should continue to try to do so.  This was a common collective endeavour.  As 
he had said in his concluding remarks at the meeting,  Members could not just continue to talk about 
calendar and process, but now had to turn to subs tance.  The only way to make progress across the 
board in the negotiations was to focus on the two main elements Members had to develop – numbers 
and words.  It was only by making progress on these two crucial components of the final outcome of 
the negotiations that Members could ensure the Roun d was a success, and the only way to do this was 
to reduce remaining differences, but not at the cost of the overall level of ambition. 
4. Turning to Aid for Trade, he recalled that  Ministers in Hong Kong had given him clear 
instructions to advance the Aid for Trade file along two tracks – first to consult on appropriate 
mechanisms to increase financ ial resources, and second, to create a Task Force to provide 
recommendations on how to operationalize Aid for Trade and ensure it contributed to the 
development dimension of the DDA.  Both pr ocesses were under way.  He had started his 
consultations with individual Members and the h eads of international and regional development and 
financial organizations.  He would pursue these and would keep Members regularly informed of his 
progress.  Regarding the Aid for Trade Task Force he  had been asked to set up, it would be composed 
of the following 11 Members, listed in alphabeti cal order:  Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, 
European Communities, Japan, India, US, and the c oordinators of the ACP, the African Group and the 
LDCs.  Representation would be at the Ambassa dor-plus-one level, with Task Force members 
encouraged to include senior capita l-based officials with development and/or finance responsibility 
and expertise.  He had also asked the Permanent Representative of Sweden to  chair this Task Force ad 
personam .  It was also his intention to invite Internati onal Organizations to act in an advisory role to 
the Task Force on a regular basis. 
5. Regarding the issue of Implementation, he wish ed to make his first report in his role as 
Director-General, as mandated in the Hong Kong Minist erial Declaration.  Ministers had asked him to 
intensify his consultative process on all outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12(b) of 
the Doha Declaration, without prejudice to the posit ions of Members.  He had also been asked to 
report to each regular meeting of the TNC and th e General Council, and the latter was to review 
progress and take any appropriate ac tion no later than 31 July 2006, which was a relatively short time-
frame.  He had already started intensifying the c onsultative process, with the assistance of a number 
of the Chairpersons of concerned WTO bodies acti ng as his Friends and two of his Deputy Directors-
General – Mrs Rugwabiza for the TRIMs issues and Mr Yerxa for the issues of GIs and TRIPS/CBD.  
He had met with these Friends that morning, and they  had reviewed all of the 12(b) issues.  He had 
asked them to resume informal consultations as ear ly as the following week on the whole package of 
remaining issues.  He would report on progress achie ved at the next TNC meeting in March and at  WT/GC/M/101 
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 subsequent General Council meetings .  Members had to do their job so that a clear recommendation 
could be submitted in time for the General Council to  take – as stated by the Hong Kong Declaration 
– any appropriate action no later than 31 July, whic h implied, obviously, that the elements he had 
gathered, in whatever form they had taken, be su bmitted to Members sufficiently in advance of this 
deadline.  On substance, there was not much to  say because the issues had not evolved significantly, 
and it had no doubt been in considera tion of this situation that Ministers had asked that an effort be 
made to refine what had to be included in the ne gotiations on these various issues.  This would require 
both flexibility from Members as well as some crea tivity from the Chairs of the respective groups.  A 
bit of both elements, if put in the right conditions of temperature and pressure, should help move this 
forward, and he of course counted on the cooperation of all for this task. 
6. All representatives who spoke thanked the Director-General for his report. 
7. The representative of Colombia  said the Director-General had made an important 
announcement on the composition of the Aid for Trade Task Force.  Colombia was an enthusiastic 
Member of this organization.  It believed firmly  in the multilateral trading system and contributed 
ideas and support – anything that could help ensure  that multilateralism benefited the world.  
Therefore, her delegation requested that one more Member be included on the Task Force, and that 
that Member be from a middle-sized or small Latin  American country.  She understood that Brazil 
could be considered as a Latin America country, and Brazil was indeed an important member of that 
region, which Colombia was proud to have on the Task Force.  In a ddition, however, she wished to 
see a smaller Latin American country on the Task Fo rce, and Colombia would like to be that country, 
provided the rest of Latin America agreed. 
8. The representative of Brazil  said Brazil would be happy to cede its place on the Task Force to 
Colombia or any other Latin American country that wished to take its place. 
9. The Chairman  said the mandate to set up the Task For ce had clearly been given directly to the 
Director-General by Ministers in Hong Kong, and the membership should not try to micromanage that mandate. 
10. The representative of Zambia
, speaking on behalf of the LDCs , asked that his statement at the 
TNC meeting on 7 February be reflected in the records of the present meeting.1  Regarding the 
announcement on the composition of the Task Force, the LDCs were consulting, but their immediate 
reaction was that there was a need to consider adding two more Members from the LDCs to serve on the Task Force. 
11. The representative of Costa Rica
 thanked the Director-General for the information on the 
Task Force.  Like the Chairman, his delegation had understood that the mandate to set up the Task 
Force had been given by Ministers in Hong Kong to the Director-General.  However, his delegation wished to air some thoughts for the Director-General  to take into account.  In-depth discussions had 
taken place, which had made it clear that there was not merely one single definition of development in 
the WTO.  However, it seemed that for some Member s, there was only one such definition, which did 
not necessarily represent all groups.  His delegati on, for one, had actively participated in the 
discussions on Aid for Trade, and had said that Aid fo r Trade was, and had to be, a solution to a very 
important element of the Doha ma ndate, which was preference erosi on, even when delegations in 
groups included in the Task Force had been against this sort of solution.  Preference erosion was a 
fundamental element that had to be included in th e results of the Round.  Aid for Trade had to be 
clearly defined with clear criteria, and ensure that  developing countries could participate in, and reap 
                                                     
 
1 The statement by Zambia on behalf of the LD Cs at the TNC meeting on 7 February, which is 
reflected in the records of that meeti ng in document TN/C/M/23 (para. 55), is incorporated by reference into the 
present records. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 4  
 
 real benefits from, international trade.  This was not  a political discussion.  All agreed this was a very 
important issue, and his delegation merely wished to  be able to contribute to the discussion.  The list 
included important protagonists, none of whom should  be excluded, and his statement should in no 
way be interpreted as suggesting this.  Costa Rica di d not wish to replace any country on the list, but 
merely to say that some countries were  missing on it, and thus there was not full representation. 
12. One point had marked, in a very complex way,  the discussions on this matter.  The LDCs 
were a group of developing countries which did respond to clear criteria for developing countries – 
the least-developed, based on economic criteria.  The ACP Group was based on political criteria, not 
economic.  It was a group of countries that bene fited from preferences from a large trading partner, 
just as that trading partner benefited from the Cari bbean Basin preferences.  This was not based on 
economic criteria, although the Group included both  rich and poor countries.  His delegation 
understood their interests and that these countries wi shed to defend those interests as a group.  
However, these countries did not represent the devel oping world.  They represented the interests of a 
group which did not respond to economic or developmen t criteria, but rather political criteria.  There 
were poor countries outside this group.  Had the group been set up just on political criteria, this should 
be discussed.  His delegation wished to state clearl y that some countries which had different positions 
and different interests were also entitled to have their place in any larger group in which the ACP 
countries had been included, because the criteria for defining the ACP Group as developing countries were political. 
13. The representative of Ecuador
 said his country was interested in Aid for Trade and saw this as 
a proactive and timely initiative.  However, it was important that it reach all countries that needed 
such aid.  Therefore, Ecuador fully supporte d the statements by Colombia and Costa Rica. 
14. The representative of Chad , on behalf of the co-authors of the Sectoral Initiative on Cotton , 
asked that his statement at the TNC meeting on 7 Fe bruary be reflected in the records of the present 
meeting.2 
15. The representative of Benin  fully supported the statements by Chad and by Zambia for the 
LDCs, including the latter's request. 
16. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  asked that his delegation's 
statement at the TNC meeting on 7 February be reflected in the records of the present meeting.3 
17. The representative of Bulgaria  said he welcomed the change in some delegations' views, to 
the effect that they supported the use of economic criteria for the definition of a developing country.  
His delegation had consistently and for some time advocated this, and that the operationalization of 
S&D treatment should be based on a definition of the be neficiaries of such treatment.  Otherwise, one 
undermined the legal foundations of the multilatera l trading system.  Bulgaria welcomed this 
development.  The rights and privileges under S& D treatment, including in the Doha Round, should 
be based on objective criteria and economic indicat ors, as had been mentioned by one delegation. 
18. The representative of Honduras  supported the statements by Costa Rica and Ecuador.  
Honduras considered Colombia's statement to be a proposal that the Director-General add another 
country from Latin America to the Task Force, given the economic differences between the countries 
in that region. 
                                                      
2 The statement by Chad at the TNC meeting on 7 Fe bruary, which is reflected in the records of that 
meeting in document TN/C/M/23 (para. 68), is inco rporated by reference into the present records. 
3 The statement by the Bolivarian Republic of Vene zuela at the TNC meeting on 7 February, which is 
reflected in the records of that meeti ng in document TN/C/M/23 (para. 47), is incorporated by reference into the 
present records.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 5 
 
 
 19. The representative of Peru  expressed his Government's satisfaction with the Director-
General's recent successful visit to Peru a few days earlier, and its appreciation for the Director-General's presence in Latin America.  The latter's visit to this region was the expression of concern over the development problems of this area, and ensured greater transparency and better dissemination of the values of international trade.  Regarding the Task Force, the information the 
Director-General had provided gave a clear picture of the composition of the group.  Peru felt fully 
represented by Brazil, and was certain that all Latin American countries felt the same way.  This was a decision the Director-General had taken on the basis of the mandate given to him in Hong Kong.  Peru was convinced that the views of the delega tions who had spoken earlier would be taken on board 
appropriately by the Director-General, and that the final composition of the Task Force would be as 
appropriate as possible, so that its work really contributed on this essential issue – the development 
dimension of the internationa l multilateral trading system. 
20. The representative of the Dominican Republic
 said her delegation had understood, as the 
Chairman had said, that it was the Director-General's mandate to set up the Task Force.  However, if 
the composition of the Task Force were to be chan ged, she urged that consultations be held, and 
recalled that the Dominican Republic had expressed, in  writing some time earlier, its interest in being 
part of this Task Force and in sending an expert fro m capital.  Her delegation hoped that this decision 
would be taken on the basis of technical criteria, unhampered by political criteria. 
21. The representative of Cuba  welcomed the setting up of the Task Force, and hoped – as had 
been decided in Hong Kong – that it would be ab le to make recommendations on Aid for Trade in 
July 2006.  As had been stated, it might be a good  idea to have consultations on the composition of 
the Task Force.  On procedural issues, bearing in mind that the content of the Aid for Trade initiative 
had not been clearly defined – it would perhaps be  appropriate for the Task Force to hold some 
meetings open to all Members, so as to hear their op inions on this issue, fo r the sake of transparency 
and to ensure the inclusion of the ideas and points of vi ew of all in the final results of this work.  The 
Task Force also had to make clear that Aid for Trade was not sufficient to fulfil the development 
dimension of Doha Round, but was merely one element.  This had to include more than a clear 
definition of trade facilitation and fulfilment of the legal commitments assumed under the WTO 
Agreement. 
22. He recalled that Aid for Trade had been men tioned more than 20 times in the Doha Work 
Programme and therefore had to be  negotiated and applied on its ow n merits, independent of moving 
forward on the whole of that Work Programme.  It could not be used as a negotiating element or to 
impose concessions or commitments on other issues, as had already been correctly stated in the 
Ministerial Declarations of the African Group in Arusha and the ACP Group in Brussels in November 2005, which had brought together most co untries that would benefit from this package and, 
furthermore, most of the Members of this organiza tion.  His delegation wished to recall some of the 
principles that should underpin such aid.  It shoul d be foreseeable and appr opriate, and contribute to 
the increase and diversification of production and expo rts.  It should be ho listic, and not conditioned 
to the adoption of greater commitments pertaining to a liberalization progra mme.  On S&D treatment, 
for all practical purposes, to date the beneficiaries had been the richer countries.  This was why Cuba 
was surprised that one delegation was now trying to  play down the importance of the concept of S&D 
and of which countries should be the beneficiaries of  S&D treatment.  He asked  that his statement at 
the TNC meeting on 7 February be reflect ed in the records of the present meeting.
4 
23. The representative of the Panama  said the Task Force would be carrying out substantial work.  
Developing countries should be able to benefit form  mechanisms that made it possible to enhance 
their supply capacity and their development in orde r to be able to implement and benefit from WTO 
                                                      
4 The statement by Cuba at the TNC meeting on 7 Fe bruary, which is reflected in the records of that 
meeting in document TN/C/M/23 (para. 92), is inco rporated by reference into the present records. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 6  
 
 agreements.  This was clearly spelled out in the Hong Kong Declaration.  Some countries had 
indicated their interest in taking part in this Task Fo rce.  It was valuable to hear such interest, because 
the contribution of countries who were in the pro cess of improving their international market access 
and who knew well what the difficulties were and the obstacles they encountered, and who had to deal 
with the complexity of international trade on a dail y basis, could make valuable contributions to the 
work of this Task Force.  This was why Panama  requested the Director-General to consider these 
requests and to carry out the consultations suggested , with a view to these countries enthusiastically 
supporting the important work the Task Force would be carrying out in due course. 
24. The representative of Nicaragua
 said that as a small, Latin American country which had 
clearly said it needed trade for its development, her delegation wished to add its voice to this 
discussion.  While Nicaragua respected the mand ate given the Director-General to choose the 
composition of the Task Force, it was very interest ed in the Director-Gener al's initiative on Aid for 
Trade and in seeing the setting up of this Task Force.   Her delegation asked the Director-General to 
consider the possibility of adding a small or medi um-sized country from Latin America to the Task 
Force, and supported all th ose who had spoken earlier. 
25. The representative of Pakistan  said that considering the statements thus far, it seemed that 
generally Members were not satisfied with the co mposition of this group.  It seemed that the 
composition was either large, rich economies or LD Cs and small economies.  What was missing – as 
had been pointed out by several delegations – was mid-level economies.  The current composition 
seemed to indicate that the scope of Aid for Trade w as limited to either those who could give – major 
donors and international organizations – and the be neficiaries already identified – LDCs and small 
economies.  At the present stage, Members should no t determine the scope of Aid for Trade, and for 
this reason, some mid-income or mid-level econom ies with low incomes from various regions should 
also be part of this group. 
26. The Director-General, Chairman of  the Trade Negotiations Committee , said he had listened 
carefully to all of the statements concerning the composition of this Task Force which was going to 
have to look into a number of technical subject s and which was intended to help him prepare the 
report he had to make to the Gene ral Council in July 2006.  The co mposition of this group did not at 
all prejudge the outcome or results of this work.  His intention, along with Deputy Director-General 
Mrs Rugwabiza, regarding the Task Force had been  to include both donors and recipients, as well as a 
number of countries – and he was thinking of Brazil, in particular – which were currently providing 
trade-related technical assistance in a way that was perhaps not in the form of payments or debt 
forgiveness, and which had generally been recognized in international organizations as a criterion for 
activity in these areas.  Countries like Brazil provide d concrete assistance on the basis of expertise and 
procedures, and thus the inclusion of these countries in the group was due to what they were presently 
doing in Aid for Trade.  If Brazil, India and China were in the group, it was not for political reasons, but rather because there needed to be recipient countries, donor countries and some countries in the 
middle to make the bridge.  In the case of Brazil, India and China, these three countries had developed 
and continued to develop expertise in techniques for developing countries that were very interesting.  
If Members wished to re-focus efforts on Aid for Tr ade, they could modify somewhat the habits one 
generally saw in international and multilateral organizations, and even regional banks, where there 
were bilateral donors.  The membership had decided on the basis of technical considerations first.  He 
asked what Members of the Task Force could bring to the thinking and the proposals in this area.  The 
decision on the composition of the group had not been made for political reasons.  The comments just 
made by delegations were being made on the basi s of other considerations which were common in 
this organization – the idea that a certain category or other of countries needed to be "represented".  
He had taken good note of this, a nd said it might be necessary to mix technical considerations with 
somewhat more political considerations.  If this cont ributed to the smooth working of the Task Force, 
it went without saying that he was not at all opposed to it.  He and DDG Mrs Rugwabiza would reflect 
on the fact that, to some, the group did not seem to be sufficiently representative or balanced, keeping  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 7 
 
 
 in mind that nothing should undermine the work of the Task Force, whose lifespan was limited and 
would thus have to work all the harder. 
27. The representative of Chile  said he wished to react to the statements made in favour of 
extending the membership of Task Force.  This w as something that should not be raised in political 
terms of large or small countries, but rather in term s of countries that gave or received support – i.e. 
donors and recipients.  Chile's conclusion from this  discussion was that the Task Force as proposed 
did have a majority of donors, be it in resources, in  services or in kind, but that there was perhaps not 
a proper representation from among recipients.  The Task  Force should be looked at in the light of 
ensuring a good balance of recipients and donors. 
28. The representative of Colombia  thanked the Director-General for his clarifications.  Her 
delegation wished to reiterate what Chile had just  said.  What the Latin American countries hoped to 
see, and the reason they had expressed an interest in  participating in the Task Force, was that all 
countries committed to development, to trade and to the Round could also make a contribution to the 
discussions on Aid for Trade.  DDG Mrs Rugwabiza would recall that Colombia, when it had been invited to meetings concerning Aid for Trad e, had announced the existence of the ANDEAN 
Development Corporation, which was a regional bod y that could play a role in supporting this 
process, and that Colombia had also had contacts w ith the Inter-American Development Bank in order 
to find projects, not for Colombia, but rather for the region to benefit from multilateralism.  This was 
why she had included the points mentioned in her earlier statement.  Her delegation respected the 
Director-General and did not want its statement to be interpreted as questioning his actions.  
Colombia recognized the Director-Gen eral's leadership and the work he did, but hoped he understood 
that some recipient countries did not feel they ha d been included, and this  was what her delegation 
had wished to reflect – not just to make a request, but also to make a contribution. 
29. The General Council took note
 of the Director-General's report and of the statements. 
30. Prior to the close of the meeting, the Chairman  said she understood that the Director-General 
wished to revert to the composition of the Task Fo rce on Aid for Trade in the light of the statements 
that had been made, and invited him to take the floor. 
31. The Director-General  said he had reflected very carefully on the statements made earlier 
regarding the composition of the Task Force, and had discussed this matter with DDG Mrs Rugwabiza who, as all knew, was working very closely with him on it.  In order to take on 
board the views that had been expressed, he wished  to suggest the following solution, which was not 
based on technical criteria.  Technically speaking,  the composition he had announced earlier had been 
fine.  The solution was not based on political criteri a either, because it was difficult to weigh, with 
political criteria, the composition of a Task Force.  It  was based merely on the fact that he recognized 
that the initial composition, despite the efforts he  had made to try to ensure a woman as Chair ad 
personam  for this task force, did not take on the politi cal issues that were very close to Members' 
hearts – gender mainstreaming.  For this reason,  he wished to add to the previously announced 
composition two further names, namely, Colombia and Thailand.  Members would note that these 
countries were represented for the time being by women ambassadors, which he felt would seriously 
improve the balance – not the technical nor political balance, but the gender balance.  He wished to 
thank Brazil for accepting to stay in the group, give n the technical contribution he was certain would 
be given by Brazil, judging from that country's policy on Aid for Trade. 
32. The General Council took note
 of the statements. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 8  
 
 2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Development 
33. The Chairman
 recalled that at its meeting in Febr uary and March 2002, the General Council 
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies, under which this Work Programme sh all be a standing item on the General Council's 
agenda.  The framework and procedures also provi de that the Committee on Trade and Development 
shall report regularly to the General Council on the pr ogress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on this 
subject. 
34. Mr Senadhira (Sri Lanka), Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development , said that the past few months had seen more progress on work related to the Work 
Programme on Small Economies.  The Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration contained several 
references to small economies, paragraph 41 of wh ich instructed the CTD in Dedicated Session to 
continue its work and monitor progress of the pr oposals made by small economies in the negotiating 
groups and other bodies.  Other references in the D eclaration concerned paragr aph 26 of the Annex on 
Agriculture, where Ministers took note of a concrete  proposal by small economies, and paragraph 21 
of the Declaration concerning NAMA, where Mini sters instructed the NAMA Negotiating Group to 
establish ways to provide flexibilities for small, vulnerable economies without creating a sub-category 
of WTO Members.  Finally, in paragraph 8 of An nex C on services, Ministers agreed that "[d]ue 
consideration shall be given to proposals on trade-re lated concerns of small economies."  Work in the 
Dedicated Session was set to continue and would resume in informal mode at a meeting on 21 February.  At that meeting, the Dedicated Se ssion would discuss what was needed to complete 
work in the coming months, in keeping with the pr oposed timelines, in order to provide responses to 
the trade-related issues and concerns of small economies. 
35. All representatives who spoke thanked the Chairm an of the Dedicated Session of the CTD for 
his report and for his efforts. 
36. The representative of El Salvador
 said his delegation was very pleased that the Ministerial 
Conference had given its support to this Work Pr ogramme, which encouraged Members to continue 
their work in this area.  El Salvador was aware of the challenge of concluding this work by the end of 
2006, and all its efforts would be focussed on this goal. 
37. The representative of Paraguay  said that as the Chairman of the Dedicated Session came from 
a small delegation, he deserved all the more recogn ition for the considerable time and effort he had 
devoted to this matter as the Chair of this body. 
38. The representative of Guatemala  said that without the efforts of the Chair of the Dedicated 
Session, it would not have been possible to make as much progress on this issue, which was a top 
priority for his country and many others.  As stat ed by Paraguay and El Salvador, whose statements 
Guatemala fully supported, the work thus far had r esulted in considerable progress which, in the final 
analysis and after many years, would enable th e small-economy countries to gain wider recognition 
of, and generate responses to, their concerns and problems. 
39. The representative of Honduras  said that as a small-economy country, his delegation wished 
to join and endorse the statements regarding th e work of the Chair of the Dedicated Session. 
40. The representative of Bolivia  said the work of the Chair of the Dedicated Session was now 
reflected in the Hong Kong Declaration, and woul d enable small economies to continue working and 
providing inputs to various areas of the negotiations , bearing in mind the timelines and the deadlines 
agreed in Hong Kong.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 9 
 
 
 41. The General Council took note  of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and of the statements. 
3. Non-recognition of rights under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 – 
Communications from Honduras and Guat emala (WT/GC/85, WT/GC/90 and Corr.1 
and WT/GC/100) – Statement by the Chairman 
42. The Chairman  recalled that this matter had first been  raised by the delegations of Honduras 
and Guatemala at the General Council meeting in December 2004.  It had subsequently been 
considered by the Council at each of its regular meeti ngs in 2005, without resolu tion.  In the light of 
the views expressed at these meetings, and the re quests for consultations made by Honduras and 
Guatemala, her predecessor and she had both held consultations on this matter in order to assist in 
finding a way forward.  In December 2005, she had noted that all sides remained keen to find a 
satisfactory resolution soon, and that she counted on the goodwill of all Members to help resolve this 
matter satisfactorily as early as possible.  In light of the views expressed at that meeting, she had 
proposed that she hold further consultations on this matter and that the General Council revert to it at 
the present meeting.  As Members knew, the quest ion of the EC's complia nce with all MFN Rights 
and Interests on Bananas under the Doha Waiver, the Awards of the Arbitrator of 1 August and 
27 October 2005, GATT Article XIII, GATT Article XXVIII and all other WTO obligations, had also 
been discussed at the Hong Kong Ministerial at the request of Honduras.  With regard to the matter before the General Council, she wished to inform delegations that the previous day, she had held 
further consultations to provide another opportunity for the Members concerned to seek clarifications, 
to the extent possible, and to see if she, as Chair,  could facilitate a satisfactory resolution to the 
concerns that had been expressed regarding this matt er.  She had invited to th ose consultations all the 
delegations who had spoken on this issue at previous meetings of the Council, and had made clear that 
the consultations were without prejudice to any Member's rights under the WTO.  The consultations 
showed that although the discussions since December  2005 had helped to clarify further the issues and 
the positions taken by the delegati ons concerned, there was no meeti ng of minds as yet on the claims 
of substantial interest submitted by Honduras and Gu atemala in connection with the EC's enlargement 
negotiations as well as the modification of its Schedul e under Article XXVIII as regards bananas.  At 
the same time, she believed these consultations ha d been more open and focused on the issues than 
previously, and set a positive tone for further consu ltations that might be held.  She had also been 
encouraged to see a willingness on all sides to continue the dialogue, and was counting on the 
goodwill of all Members to help resolve this matter satisfactorily as early as possible. 
43. All delegations who spoke thanke d the Chairman for her efforts to find a solution to this 
matter and for the consultations she had held. 
44. The representative of Guatemala
 said that at this first General Council meeting of the year, 
and as was the custom in any new year, Members needed  to engage in some reflection.  They needed 
to think deeply about the events of 2005 and the wo rk and effort put in by the delegations in this 
organization.  In-depth reflection of this kind was particularly valuable because it allowed Members to 
take stock realistically of the work accomplished and thus assess how far they had progressed.  It went 
without saying that a new year was also a time fo r assessing achievements and misfortunes in the year 
just ended.  Lastly, it was an ideal opportunity for setting priorities and objectives for the new year.  
Accordingly, his delegation had seized the opportunity  to reflect on the present agenda item – an area 
in which achievements and setbacks would appear to offset each other.  Turn ing first to the setbacks 
or misfortunes – not to say disappointments – it w as clear to all that although Guatemala had been 
insisting for more than a year on the recogn ition of its rights under GATT Articles XXIV and 
XXVIII, there had been no positive reaction from th e European Communities.  Guatemala's claims – 
which were genuine and had a basis in law – had obviously failed to elicit any response.  He would 
not repeat the arguments put forward by his delegati on, but simply wished to recall them and to ask WT/GC/M/101 
Page 10  
 
 the European Communities, as part of its new year reflections, to re view and analyse them carefully – 
it went without saying – from a different and more constructive and positive standpoint. 
45. On a more positive note, he wished to turn to the achievements of 2005 in this area.  
Guatemala was deeply satisfied at the support, in sight and solidarity of Members in the General 
Council.  In various meeti ngs, more than 15 delegations
5 had echoed his delegation's calls and had 
confirmed the need for an approach geared to a ba lanced solution to the redistribution of negotiating 
rights.  Guatemala's colleagues in the WTO had ag reed it was necessary to address and find a solution 
to the disadvantages faced by small and medium-siz ed exporters in the redistribution of negotiating 
rights.  Such a gesture of support could not be overlooked, and Guatemala had to make the most of this situation.  His delegation was committed to sei zing this political resolve in order to direct it 
towards concrete and advantageous results.  He wi shed to suggest that this might be done through 
concrete negotiating proposals.  As he had said,  a new year was also an opportunity for setting 
priorities and objectives.  Bananas were still a priority on his Government's trade agenda.  
Accordingly, one of its objectives for 2006 was the fi nal settlement of the banana issue, a recurrent 
issue in this organization.  If this issue was to be  resolved, Guatemala's trading partner, the European 
Communities, would have to address this matter serious ly and with respect for Guatemala's rights and 
interests.  First and foremost, his delegation hoped that the European Communities would show 
diligence during the good offices procedure that a group of Latin American countries had recently 
initiated with the European Communities.  New talks in what his delegation perceived to be a milder 
and more focused setting might be the best approach to  settling this matter.  In order to embark on this 
procedure, the formal political support of the Eu ropean Communities was needed.  The opportunity 
for an amicable settlement to this issue could not be lost.  In addition, it was in the interests of each 
and every one of the 25 member States of the European  Union that the dispute should at long last be 
resolved.  He therefore suggested that every one of  these countries encourage its authorities to ensure 
that this was the case.  Guatemala was embarking on the new year with positive intentions of pursuing 
a solution in the amicable context afforded by the good offices procedure.  His delegation trusted that 
the EC was beginning the year with the same in tentions and that it would accordingly promote the 
good offices mechanism so that a satisfactory solution could be found to the problems raised by Guatemala. 
46. The representative of Honduras
 said the EC's refusal to recognize Honduras' substantial 
supplying interest continued to occupy  the General Council, because this matter  was still high on 
Honduras' agenda, and it was very gratified to see that many recognized this matter's systemic 
importance.  As all were aware, his delegation was not approaching this issue from the standpoint 
merely of representing Honduras in the WTO, but ra ther because this matter transcended the interests 
of any single Member, and because Honduras w as convinced that each Member bore some 
responsibility for reinforcing the credibility of the mu ltilateral trading system.  It would run counter to 
that objective for the EC to be able to persist in refusing to recognize the interest of Honduras, 
blatantly violating Article XXVIII by arguing that its  market monitoring mechanism was adequate for 
resolving all the concerns of the countries in Latin  America.  His delegation wished to place on record 
that such monitoring was no more than an inform ation-gathering exercise designed by the EC to 
maintain a WTO-inconsistent tariff level of €176 per tonne, and one year later to take its own 
decisions as to the tariff level it would impose on imports of Latin American bananas.  His 
Government wished to make quite clear that the very notion of monitoring as a means of determining 
the tariff level was unacceptable.  In addition, it had nothing to do with violating the rights of 
Honduras under Articles I, II, XIII, XXIV and XXVIII of the GATT, or with infringements of the 
Agreement on Agriculture or the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and of 
course, it had nothing to do with the aims of the D oha Round, in particular regarding the rights of 
developing countries.  In short, monitoring solved nothing and contributed nothing to the countries 
                                                      
5 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia , El Salvador, Indonesi a, Mexico, Nicaragua, 
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Uruguay.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 11 
 
 
 affected by EC non-compliance, as it was an exercise that fell outs ide the scope of the disciplines, 
principles and rights enshrined in the WTO Agreemen ts.  Furthermore, monitoring was pointless even 
for the purposes of the EC, as it would not, as a result of monitoring, be exonerated from the complaints that would arise. 
47. Regarding the rights of Honduras under Article XXV III, he wished to reiterate that the EC 
should not calculate Honduras's trade levels on the basis of a time-period during which there were 
discriminatory quantitative restrictions, since no ille gal time-frame could ever form the basis of a 
calculation that was consistent with Article XXV III.  No one should be deceived – the use of an 
illegal time-frame was nothing but a way of perp etuating the effects of illegality and subjecting 
Honduras to two-fold discrimination.  If the calcula tion was to be consistent with Article XXVIII, 
substantial interest had to be calculated on the basi s of trade levels that would have existed in a 
market free of discriminatory quantitative restri ctions.  The years 1989-1991 had been taken as the 
prior representative period in the third banana dis pute, and Honduras had used those very same years 
to calculate its market share in  the European Communities, using statistics published by Eurostat.  
Furthermore, the rules did not specify the percenta ge of market share that the exporting Member had 
to control in order to be consider ed a substantial supplier.  The Pane l in the third banana dispute had 
held that the exporting Member did not need to control 10 per cent of the market, as was being 
wrongly asserted by the EC, especially when the e xporting Member was a small developing country 
that was highly dependent on banana  exports, as was the case for Honduras.  In short, his delegation 
submitted that the years 1989-1991 s hould be taken as the basis for th e calculation, since this was a 
prior representative period, as it was a time duri ng which Honduras had established itself as a major 
banana supplier, as confirmed in two trade disputes dealt with unde r the GATT.  Although the rules 
and the arbitral awards to which he was referring were clear to all, including the EC itself, his delegation regretted, once again, that it had not been  possible to engage in a genuine dialogue to settle 
this matter.  His delegation hoped that the EC was capable of changing its attitude, and that instead of 
using a period during which Honduras had seen its ma rket share contract, precisely as a consequence 
of the illegal restrictions imposed by the EC, th e EC might finally decide to recognize Honduras's 
substantial supplying interest.  In conclusion, he  wished to reiterate th at Honduras respected the 
system and was conversant with the mechanisms it offered all Members to en sure that their rights 
were restored.  Honduras would continue to strive for the full and effective enforcement of all its 
rights, quite simply because there was no questi on of renouncing them or abandoning its principles in 
any way.  The ball was now in the EC's court.  It had to decide whether it was prepared to work with 
Honduras to build a more just, stable and predictabl e system, whether it was prepared to change its 
attitude so that Honduras might achieve its devel opment objectives – which depended largely on the 
trade opportunities afforded it by the multilateral tr ading system – and whether it was capable of 
moving from rhetoric to concrete action in order to comply with its obligations.  It also had to state when it would grant compensation under Article XXIV:6.   Failing this, the EC would continue to call 
into question the credibility of the system and to jeopardize any successful outcome of the Doha 
Development Round. 
48. The representative of Argentina
 thanked the Chairman for havi ng invited to the consultations 
all delegations who had expressed an interest in this issue, including Argentina.   He imagined that the 
consultation process would continue under the Chairman's successor, and in this context wished to 
stress again its interest in this issue, which had an  important systemic impact, and its wish to continue 
to be included in these consultations.  This matte r was not a question of just economic or financial 
compensation, but of a systemic issue that had to  be analyzed and discussed.  Argentina hoped that 
during 2006, Members would be able to find a solu tion to this issue, and supported the positions of 
Honduras and Guatemala. 
49. The representative of Mexico  said that all knew of Mexico's support for Honduras's and 
Guatemala's positions.  His delegation hoped to av oid a technical problem from becoming a political 
one, and hoped a solution would be found as soon as possible. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 12  
 
 50. The representative of Cameroon
 said that as a member of the ACP Group, his country wished 
to be fully associated with the consultation pr ocess under way.  His delegation had been associated 
with the negotiations on this matter in Hong Kong and it was appropriate that it be so in Geneva.  
Cameroon undeniably had a substantial commercial interest in the consultations requested by 
Honduras and accepted by the EC, first, as a genuine e xporter of bananas to the EC, and also as one of 
the two parties to the ACP-EC partnership agreem ent which had been mentioned in the request for 
consultations.  Therefore, Cameroon formally requested to be included in the consultations to be held.  
Since the setting up of the Banana regime in the European Union, the share of imports from ACP 
countries and their supply of bananas had continu ously dropped.  This market share had gone from 
more than 30 per cent to less than 20 per cent, a drop of more than one-third in only 12 years.  The 
move to the single tariff for MFN imports had ob viously increased this trend, as ACP imports had 
been limited by a quota.  The strong pressure brought to bear by the MFN countries had led the European Union to gradually reduce the proposed ta riff level to €176 per tonne.  This gradual drop, 
which had taken place to the detriment of ACP prefer ences, not only posed a problem of principle, but 
also created an untenable social situation.  In ACP countries, farmers were reducing, if not stopping 
altogether, their activities and had therefore become unemployed, or had become migrants in order to 
ensure their families' survival.  He asked how Ca meroon – one of the lowest-placed countries in terms 
of human development – was going to stop an activity in which its population trus ted.  This would put 
hundreds of thousands of people in a difficult situati on.  A system suggested by the European Union 
to calculate market share for th e MFN countries had been done away with, because a proper statistical 
basis did not exist on which to make this determin ation.  The market shares for the ACP countries 
which had relied on these figures demonstrated that the initial proposal by the EC was already an 
unacceptable basis, but these warnings had not been heard and negotiations had taken place aimed at achieving a compromise.  However, Cameroon had to  know whether – on the basis of what had been 
suggested in Doha in 2001 – the tariff level sugg ested by the European Union, which was €176 per 
tonne, allowed full market access or not.  One had to  be pragmatic and to see how the market reacted, 
in order to be able to establish a realistic tari ff level.  The ACP Group would choose a spokesman to 
participate in the upcoming consultations and convey its concerns in this matter. 
51. The Chairman
 said she believed that the consultations  Cameroon had referred to were those 
being conducted under the good offices of the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Støre, under a process agreed at the Hong Kong Mini sterial.  She was certain that the Members 
concerned, including the representative of Norway, had taken note of Cameroon's concerns in this 
regard.  As all were aware, the consultations sh e herself had been conducting related to the specific 
question of non-recognition of rights under Ar ticles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of GATT 1994 which was 
being discussed in the Council on the basis of communications received from Honduras and Guatemala.  
52. The representative of Colombia
 said that 27 February was the deadline for conclusion of the 
negotiations the EC was to carry out with all Memb ers affected by the enlargement of the European 
Union on 1 May 2004.  Colombia rights had been recognized in a timely fashion, and the damage it had sustained had also been recognized, which shoul d result in compensation.  However, there were 
other countries the size of Colombia that had not been able to get the Community – either under 
Article XXIV:6 or Article XXVIII in the case of goods, or under Article XXI in the case of services – 
to take their claims of interest into consideration and to negotiate and consu lt with them in order to 
provide compensation for the damage incurred.  Colomb ia knew that at the time of the enlargement of 
the European Union, the Community had negotiated with many Members, but that countries the size 
of Colombia had not been among them.  Colombia hoped that all Members who had had their rights 
recognized, whatever their size, would be able to negotiate under the WTO rules and agreements.  It 
also hoped that the rights of Honduras and Guatemala would be recognized, in line with the request 
made to the General Council in December 2004.  The Chairman, in leaving her post following the end 
of her tenure, would know that she had done her utmost  to keep this issue on the agenda and to find a  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 13 
 
 
 solution to it.  If a solution were not found, it woul d be because there was no legal or political will to 
do so. 
53. The representative of Uruguay  said that, like other delegations from Latin America who had 
already spoken, his delegation wished to recall th at Uruguay had often expressed its support for the 
defence of Honduras's and Guatemala's rights.  Uruguay hoped that with further consultations, 
Members would be able to move to  a final agreement in this disput e, which had systemic effects on 
the international trading system and thus justifie d Uruguay's interest in following this dispute very 
closely. 
54. The representative of Paraguay  said his country placed a lot of importance on this issue, both 
symbolically and also systemically.  Whatever th e result and the solution found, it would have an 
effect on the attitude of both the developing and th e developed countries on their participation in the 
WTO.  His delegation hoped that at the end of this pr ocedure, all would have a feeling of justice.  It 
was important that Members' behaviour moved as far as possible away from political considerations 
in this case.  This did not mean that fairness and consideration for smal l and vulnerable economies 
should be lacking or absent when decisions were  taken.  Honduras and Guatemala were making a 
claim because they felt they were being subject to discrimination, just as Paraguay, in many cases, felt 
that justice was not being given to its positions in discussions on fundamental issues.  This was why 
his delegation fully supported Honduras and Guatemal a in the efforts they were making, and hoped 
that the solution found would be fair and would benefit not only these countries, but the whole 
multilateral trading system and the organization. 
55. The representative of Brazil  joined all delegations who had mentioned the systemic 
importance of this issue, and supported the statements by Honduras and by Guatemala. 
56. The representative of Costa Rica  said that, as on previous o ccasions, his delegation supported 
the claims by Honduras and Guatemala,  and their right to be recogni zed under Article XXVIII.  Costa 
Rica asked the European Communities to respond to  these claims favourably.  Like Colombia and 
other Members whose rights had been recognized, Cost a Rica had not achieved more than that.  The 
European Communities should take steps in its c onsultations with delegations on compensation as a 
result of the EU's enlargement to 25 members, and this should be done indepe ndently from the banana 
issue.  Like others, his delegation also wished to mention bananas under th is issue.  Cameroon had 
said that one should let the market judge.  His delega tion welcomed that statement and wished to hear 
it more frequently from Cameroon.  This was precisely  what had been asked – that the market should 
decide in the banana issue – but this was not ha ppening.  His delegation did not know how Cameroon 
could say that the market should decide, when th ere was a €176 per tonne ta riff level for some and 
duty-free treatment for others.  This was not letting the market decide. 
57. The representative of Panama  said his delegation had taken note of the Chairman's interest in 
this matter and her neutrality and transparent appr oach in the consultations  she had carried out.  
Panama of course supported the justified request s by Honduras and Guatemala who were demanding 
that their rights be recognized under Articles XXVI II and XXIV:6.  As was the case for some other 
delegations, Panama's rights as a substantial s upplier had been recognized , but nothing had happened 
beyond this mere recognition.  Like Colombia, de spite this recognition Panama had seen no move 
towards ensuring compensation.  This issue was very  important for this organization.  His delegation 
thanked the Chairman for clarifying the objectives of  the consultations she had carried out, which 
were totally independent of th e good offices process being carried  out by Norway.  Honduras and 
Guatemala were claiming the recognition of their rights and also to monitor the development of 
imports.  Panama urged the Community to assess its policy in this regard.  If not dealt with appropriately, this issue would hamper and complicat e work for the rest of the year.  His delegation 
was very concerned by the recent statements by th e European Communities to the effect that €176 per 
tonne tariff level would not be renego tiated, or at least not in 2006.  It was possible that at the end of WT/GC/M/101 
Page 14  
 
 the year there would be an evaluation to see whethe r or not this level had affected Latin American 
countries, but this would not help solve the problem.  Members had to give more urgent attention to 
this issue, which could not wait for a year before  being resolved, and Panama therefore called on the 
European Communities to discuss the banana issue as soon as possible. 
58. The representative of Nicaragua
 said her delegation agreed with the Chairman that the 
consultations held the previous day had been wo rthwhile.  Nicaragua supported the statements by 
Honduras and Guatemala regarding their rights pursuant to Articles XXIV and XXVIII.  For 
Nicaragua, this matter went beyond just bananas.  It was a systemic issue that should be of interest to 
the entire membership.  On the one hand, the substa ntial interest of supplying countries could not be 
calculated on the basis of time periods in which trad e restrictions had been in place.  On the other 
hand – and this was extremely important for her c ountry – there should be flexibility regarding the 
market shares in the importing country.  In the case  of small countries in particular, compensation 
should be calculated on the basis of injury caused , and thus the weight of the product in overall 
exports should be the main criterion.  Furthermore,  Nicaragua agreed with Honduras that the issue at 
hand should be solved outside the market monitoring system established by the European 
Communities. 
59. The representative of El Salvador  said that, as his delegation had stated on previous 
occasions, this issue had a serious systemic impact  on the organization.  El Salvador had been 
following developments very closely, including through participation in the Chairman's consultations.  
El Salvador hoped that a solution could be fou nd as soon as possible to the claims made by Honduras 
and Guatemala, which should respect the rules governing the organization. 
60. The representative of the United States  said his delegation understood the importance of 
bananas to the economies of the countries that had spoken under this item, as well as the systemic 
importance of this issue.  The United States strongly supported the efforts of the Chairman and of Minister Støre of Norway to resolve this issue th rough consultations.  Therefore, it urged all parties 
involved in this issue to participate positively in those consultations with the aim of arriving at a 
prompt and just solution. 
61. The representative of Ecuador
 said that as the Chairman left her post following the end of her 
tenure, she could certainly feel she had fulfilled her duties in this matter.  The parties involved had to 
continue their efforts.  Ecuador supported the just  claims by Honduras and Guatemala that their rights 
be recognized under Article XXVIII, and urged the Eu ropean Communities to rectify its position, not 
on the basis of a system decided unilaterally and with out negotiations, but with the affected Members.  
This year offered the EC the possibility to bring re newed credibility to the multilateral trading system.  
Ecuador would make every effort to ensure a positiv e outcome.  As Costa Rica had stated, this issue 
was part of the issue of compensation under Article XXIV following EU enlargement, and while Ecuador's rights too had been r ecognized no proposal for compensati on had been received.  It was 
very easy for a group of 25 developed countries not to want to pay.  There had been a number of 
different processes, with no clarity as to whether they were related to Article XXVIII or the Doha 
Round.  Ecuador hoped that the out come would not be that at the end of the Round, ambitions on 
market access were diminished, and hoped that ther e would be a  result in which what was owed was 
paid.  Cameroon's statement had ma de clear its concerns.  Ecuador  understood those concerns and 
wished to state clearly that the discriminatory sy stem had not been created by the MFN suppliers.  
The €176 per tonne tariff had not been the result of  pressure.  The two arbitrations under the Doha 
Waiver process had condemned the previously pr oposed levels of €230 and €187.  The €176 level had 
not yet been ruled against, because the Dispute Settleme nt System had not considered it.  This tariff 
level had been a unilateral decision which had no scientific basis.  Ecuador shared Costa Rica's 
concerns that the market should decide on the basi s of supply and demand, and not on the basis of a 
system that was still discriminating against many countries, including his own.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 15 
 
 
 62. The representative of th e European Communities  expressed his delegation's disappointment 
that this matter remained before the General Co uncil.  The Chairman's role in the informal 
consultations had been very much appreciated.  The Community fully recognized the importance of bananas to many of the delegations who had spoken under this item.  This matter was also of vital 
importance to a number of ACP countries, as had been borne out by the discussion at the Hong Kong 
Ministerial called for by Honduras.  The EU was oblig ed to move to a tariff only basis for bananas on 
1 January 2006, and had stuck to this obligation.  It would have preferred to  have had an agreement 
with all MFN suppliers on the level of the tariff, or  to have had guidance from the arbitrators.  This 
had not happened, and the Community had been for ced to move ahead under its own responsibility.  
Only time would tell whether the figure adopted provi ded the same level of MFN access, and for this 
reason the EU had established the monitoring mechanism. 
63. Regarding the good offices process, his delegation was most grateful to Minister Støre and the 
Norwegian mission in Geneva for the initiative and the work they had undertaken to date.  It certainly 
held the promise of a useful confidence-bu ilding process and provided a good forum for the 
Community, with a number of MFN suppliers, to see how the tariff of €176 per tonne really worked 
in practice.  His delegation looked forward to wo rking under the auspices of those good offices with 
the MFN suppliers that had elected to participate.   The Community had also held dispute settlement 
consultations in the framework of Article XXI:5 on 19 January with three other MFN suppliers.  
These consultations had been constructive, and the Community was willing to continue them if the 
parties so wished.  The Community had considerab le experience in Article XXIV:6 negotiations, as 
the EU had gone through successive enlargements.  In  doing so, as it had repeated on many occasions 
in the General Council, the Community had follo wed GATT/WTO law and well-established practice, 
including when recognizing and rejecting claims.  Any deviation from that would obviously raise questions of discrimination.  The Community had ex amined the paper circulated by Honduras prior to 
the meeting of the General Council in May 2005, an d had provided a reaction in writing to the points 
made by Honduras.  Subsequently, immediately prior to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, 
Honduras had produced a further paper, which the Community was studying.  However, his 
authorities were thus far not convinced that this ch anged the EC's conclusions.  The EC remained of 
the view that Honduras did not have a "substa ntial supplying interest" under Article XXVIII. 
64. His delegation had listened carefully to Guatem ala's statement but was not persuaded.  The 
EC had also given further explanations to Guatemal a regarding the examination of its claims and had 
shared further detailed information bilaterally  with Guatemala on the precise lines on which 
Guatemala considered that it did have negotiating ri ghts.  As always, the Community remained ready 
to discuss this issue further with both Honduras and Guatemala, and to examine any additional 
documentation they might wish to present in support of their claims.  It was also  ready to continue the 
dialogue with Colombia and others on outstanding claims.  On the more systemic issue of the 
treatment of small suppliers, the EC could not unilaterally change or add to the longstanding 
multilateral rules and practices that had been ag reed in the GATT and WTO for establishing and 
according supplying rights.  The EC had nonetheless always given due consid eration in negotiations 
to the situation of small suppliers, for example according rights to a developing-country Member 
where the largest share of its exports was affected.  As his delegation had stated on previous occasions 
in the General Council, it would be very ready to engage in a collective ex ercise in the appropriate 
WTO forum to review the relevant GATT/WTO rul es and procedures, and to  discuss any changes and 
improvements that should be made.  He again wish ed to thank the Chairman for her assistance in 
trying to resolve this important ma tter through informal consultations. 
65. The representative of Honduras
 thanked the delegations of Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, 
Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the United States and Ecuador for 
having understood Honduras's problem.  His delega tion also wished to thank Cameroon, as the 
spokesman for the ACP countries, for clarifying that  there were two separate issues.  However, his 
delegation seemed to have heard in the EC's reply that it had not heard Cameroon's statement.  What WT/GC/M/101 
Page 16  
 
 was being discussed under the present item was the non-recognition of rights under Articles XXIV 
and XXVIII.  Honduras was talking about monitoring, while others were talking about Article XXI:5, 
or perhaps the Commission's intention in continuing  an illegality was to put this all together in one 
box.  Honduras wished to be crystal clear that each of these processes had its own guidelines and its 
own way of moving forward.  Honduras was gratef ul that the European Communities was studying 
the document circulated at the Hong Kong Ministeria l Conference, and wished to draw attention to 
the reference to small exporters, which was exp licitly and clearly stated in the Understanding on 
Article XXVIII of the GATT.  In addition, it could al so clearly be seen in the results of the second and 
third Banana panels, where it was stated that a 10  per cent share was not necessary.  Thus, Members 
would simply continue with no movement on this  agenda item and its re tention on the Council's 
agenda.  This would not be particularly pleasant for the membership and could, in fact, jeopardize or 
risk events in parallel negotiations, i.e. in the Round, whose objective was nothing more or less than 
development and the integration of small count ries, such as Honduras, into the organization. 
66. The Chairman
 proposed that the General Council revert to  this matter at its next meeting, and 
that the incoming Council Chair would hold further consultations in the me antime with the aim of 
moving this matter forward. 
67. The General Council took note  of the statements and so agreed . 
4. Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration 
(a) Report of the Committee on its meetings of  October and November 2005 (WT/BFA/83) 
68. The Chairman  drew attention to the report of the Budget Committee in document 
WT/BFA/83.  
69. Mr Postma (Netherlands), Chairman of  the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration , said that the report in document WT/BFA/ 83 covered six meetings  held from October 
to November 2005, and covered primarily the di scussions surrounding the budget proposals for the 
biennium 2006-2007, as well as the HR Reform a nd Restructuring Plan, the Training and Media 
Facility, consolidation of temporary assistan ce positions, new posts, budget proposals for the 
International Trade Centre for the biennium 2006- 2007, and the DDA Global Trust Fund.  The report 
should be read in conjunction with documen t WT/BFA/82, which contained the specific 
recommendations of the Committee resulting from these meetings.  He recalled that those recommendations had been presented to, and approv ed by, the General Council at its meeting on 
1 December 2005.  The narrative report in WT/B FA/83 was therefore solely presented for the 
information of the General Council. 
70. The representative of Ecuador
 thanked the Chairman of th e Budget Committee for the report 
and recommendations of the Committee following its meetings of October a nd December 2005.  His 
delegation had taken the floor at the present meetin g because it had not been able to do so in the 
Committee.  His delegation wished to stress that it valued the excellent work done by the Secretariat 
under the Director-General in support of the Members.  However, Ecuador could not at the present 
time support the increase in contributions by Member s for the budget.  That being said, any initiative 
for this purpose which would not affect Ecuador's level of contributions would be welcomed.  He 
noted that Ecuador was ahead in the payment of its contributions. 
71. The representative of Cuba  said that, like Ecuador, his delegation had been unable to 
participate in the Budget Committee's meetings, and was not able at the present time to approve any 
increase in Members' contributions.  He would ha ve to check with his capital on this matter.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 17 
 
 
 72. The representative of Egypt  said that his delegation was also unable at the present time to 
approve any increase in the budget. 
73. Mr Postma (Netherlands), Chairman of  the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration , clarified that at the present meeting Members were considering the narrative report of 
the Committee in document WT/BFA/83.  As he had said in his earlier statement, Members had 
approved the relevant recommendations resulting from  these meetings of the Budget Committee, set 
out in document WT/BFA/82, at the Dece mber 2005 meeting of the General Council. 
74. The Chairman  said she wished to confirm that th e Committee's recommendations from these 
meetings, circulated in document WT/BFA/82, ha d been considered and approved by the General 
Council in December 2005.  She asked if Members could agree to adopt the narrative report of the 
Committee in document WT/BFA/83 on the basis of this clarification. 
75. The representative of Egypt  said that his delegation had no speci fic instructions to approve an 
increase in the budget. 
76. The representative of Cuba  said that his delegation would need to check with his capital on 
this matter. 
77. The Chairman  said she wished to clarify once again that the recommendations of the Budget 
Committee emanating from these meetings had been approved by the General Council in 
December 2005, and that it was merely a formality  to adopt the Committee's narrative report.  No 
approval was being sought from the General Counc il at the present meeting for the recommendations 
already approved.  On the basis of  these clarifications, she invited the General Council to take note of 
the statements by the Budget Committee Chair a nd by the three delegations who had spoken, and 
agree to adopt the Committee's report in document WT/BFA/83. 
78. The General Council so agreed . 
(b) Recommendation of the Committee following its meeting of February 2006 (WT/BFA/84) 
79. The Chairman  drew attention to the recommendation of the Budget Committee contained in 
document WT/BFA/84. 
80. Mr Postma (Netherlands), Chairman of  the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration , said document WT/BFA/84 contained th e recommendation emanating from the 
Committee's meeting on 6 February 2006.  A full re port of the meeting would be presented to the 
General Council at its next meeting.  As Member s were aware, there were four categories of 
Administrative Measures in force in the WTO for Me mbers who were in arrears with the payment of 
their financial contributions to the WTO.  The Committee had begun a review of these measures to 
evaluate whether they were adequate, in their present form, to address the problem of Members in 
arrears of contributions.  In the context of Members in Category IV – those with more than three years 
of contributions outsta nding – he was pleased to note that the following Members which had been 
notified to the General Council in 2005 as being incl uded in the list, had made sufficient payments 
and were no longer under any category of the admini strative measures.  They had fulfilled all their 
financial obligations to the WTO.  These countri es were:  Antigua and Barbuda, Nigeria, Solomon 
Islands, Suriname, Tanzania and Zambia.  With rega rd to those Members which were currently more 
than three years in arrears with their payments of their financial contributions to the WTO, the 
Committee, in accordance with a d ecision of the General Council, was directed to put forward the 
recommendation contained in document WT/BFA/ 84, which dealt with those Members.  The 
recommendation reads as follows:  "In accordance with  paragraph 7 (b) of document PC/7,  L/7578, WT/GC/M/101 
Page 18  
 
 the Committee recommends to the General Council that the following Me mbers classified in 
Category IV of the Administrative Measures (Inactive Members) be urged to liquidate their arrears. 
Burundi 
Central African Republic Chad 
Congo 
Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Dominica 
Dominican Republic 
 Gabon Gambia 
Guinea Guinea-Bissau 
Malawi 
Mauritania Niger Paraguay Sierra Leone 
Togo 
 
 81. The General Council took note
 of the statement, approved  the specific recommendation in the 
Budget Committee's report in WT/BFA/84, and adopted  the report. 
5. Derestriction of GATT 1947 Official Docu ments – Statement by the Chairman 
82. The Chairman  recalled that at the October 2005 meeti ng of the General Council, she had read 
out a statement on behalf of the Director-Gener al on the question of the digital archiving and 
derestriction of GATT official documents.  In that statement, the Director-General had indicated that 
consultations on these issues were being conducte d by Mr Harbinson, and that, as regards 
derestriction, the Members that had participated in the consultations were  broadly in favour of 
derestricting all the 50,000 or so GATT official documents that still remained restricted.  The 
Director-General had indicated that on both of these matters, the views of all Members would have to be taken into account before Memb ers could proceed further, and that the General Council would 
revert to these two issues early in 2006.   
83. On 17 January 2006, Mr Harbinson had held a further open-ended consultation to discuss 
these issues informally and to consider how th ey could be progressed.  With respect to the 
derestriction of the GATT official documents, it seeme d clear that this would require a decision by the 
General Council.  It had been his understanding also that participants in the consultations were all of 
the view that the derestriction of these documents would be a positive step towards greater openness 
and transparency in Members' work.  There ha d been some nuances about the extent to which 
documents should be vetted be fore derestriction.   
84. With this in mind, and with a view to facilitati ng an early decision by Members in regard to 
the derestriction of the GATT documents that we re still restricted, she proposed for Members' 
consideration that they proceed as follows:   
(a) First
, that all Members wishing to do so be allowed until 31 March to examine the 
restricted GATT documents and to notify the Secretariat of any documents they 
considered should continue to remained rest ricted for a further period of time.  While 
trying to stick to this date, she was sure th at some flexibility could be exercised if a 
little more time were needed by any delegation.   
(b) Second , that open-ended informal consultations be held in April to consider a draft 
decision that would propose the general der estriction in the near future of all GATT 
restricted documents, as well as the automatic derestriction at a later date of those 
documents – hopefully very few – notifie d by delegations as warranting further 
restriction.  The latter documents woul d be compiled as an Annex to the draft 
decision.    WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 19 
 
 
 (c) Third , that on the basis of these consultations, Members take up the draft decision for 
consideration and action at the General C ouncil meeting scheduled for 15 May 2006.   
85. In this connection, she noted that – as had been announced on previous occasions – a 
comprehensive list of all GATT documents that rema ined restricted, along with  their respective titles, 
symbols and dates, had been available on the Members' website for some time.  All GATT restricted 
documents could also be consulted in hard copy form in the three languages in the archives section of 
the WTO library.  A large number of these documen ts could also be accessed electronically, in 
English only, on the website.  The Secretariat stood re ady to assist any delegation that wished to have 
further information or assistance.  With these word s, she asked if delegations were agreeable to 
proceeding in this manner.  She underlined that open-ended consultations on a draft derestriction 
decision would be undertaken in April, as she ha d suggested, in order that all views could be 
considered before any such decision was submitted for consideration and action to the May General 
Council meeting. 
86. The General Council took note  of the statement and agreed  to the procedure outlined by the 
Chairman. 
6. Appointment of Officers to WTO Bodies 
87. The Chairman  recalled that, in accordance with the Gu idelines for Appointment of Officers to 
WTO Bodies approved by the General Council in December 2002 (WT/L/510), she and her colleague, 
Mr Glenne (Norway), the serving Chair of the Di spute Settlement Body, had conducted consultations 
with delegations on a slate of names for the appointme nt of Chairs to the bodies listed in Groups 1, 2, 
4 and 5 in the Annex to the Guidelines.  As she had announced at the Council meeting in 
December 2005, Mr Glenne and she had also been  consulting with delegations on the question of 
appointment of Chairs to the bodies established by the TNC.  They had consulted delegations both 
individually and in groups, including through group coordina tors.  These consultations had included 
an informal open-ended Heads-of-Delegation meeting held the previous afternoon.   
88. Beginning first with the appointments to WTO bodies other than those under the TNC, she 
was pleased to be able to inform delegations th at, on the basis of the consultations, there was a 
consensus on the following slate of names: 
General Council 
 HE Mr Eirik GLENNE (Norway) 
Dispute Settlement Body 
 HE Mr Muhamad Noor YACOB (Malaysia) 
Trade Policy Review Body 
 HE Mrs Claudia URIBE (Colombia) 
Council for Trade in Goods 
 HE Mr Yonov Freder ick AGAH (Nigeria) 
Council for Trade in Services 
 HE Mr François ROUX (Belgium) 
Council for TRIPS 
 HE Mr C. Trevor CLARKE (Barbados) 
Committee on Trade and  
  Environment  HE Mr Shree Baboo Chekitan SERVANSING 
(Mauritius) 
Committee on Trade and 
  Development  Mr Faizel ISMAIL (South Africa) WT/GC/M/101 
Page 20  
 
 Committee on Balance-of- 
  Payments Restrictions  Mr Takehiro KAGAWA (Japan) 
Committee on Regional Trade  
  Agreements 
 HE Mr Ousmane CAMARA (Senegal) 
Committee on Budget, Finance  
  and Administration  HE Mr Juan Antonio MARCH PUJOL (Spain) 
Working Group on Trade and  
  Transfer of Technology 
 HE Mr Manuel A.J. TEEHANKEE (Philippines) 
Working Group on Trade, Debt and  
  Finance HE Mr Peter BR ŇO (Slovak Republic) 
89. Appointments for these bodies would be for one year as usual, in keeping with the general 
rule in the Guidelines.  These appointments would, of course, be made formally by the WTO bodies 
concerned at their subsequent meetings in 2006. 
90. Regarding the Chairmanships of bodies under the TNC, on the basis of the consultations, 
including with the Director-General in his role as Chairman of the TNC, she considered that there was 
a consensus on the following slate for these appointments: 
Negotiating Group on 
  Market Access  HE Mr Don STEPHENSON (Canada) 
 
Negotiating Group on Rules 
 HE Mr Guillermo VALLES GALMÉS (Uruguay) 
 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation 
 Mr Tony Miller (Hong Kong, China) 
Special Session of the  
  Council for Trade in Services 
 HE Mr Fernando DE MATEO Y VENTURINI 
(Mexico) 
Special Session of the  
  Council for TRIPS  HE Mr Manzoor AHMAD (Pakistan) 
Special Session of the   
  Dispute Settlement Body 
 HE Mr Ronald SABORÍO SOTO 
(Costa Rica) 
Special Session of the  
  Committee on Agriculture  HE Mr Crawford FALCONER (New Zealand) 
Special Session of the  
  Committee on Trade and 
  Environment  HE Mr Toufiq ALI (Bangladesh) 
Special Session of the  
  Committee on Trade and 
  Development HE Mr Burhan GAFOOR (Singapore) 
 
  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 21 
 
 
 91. With regard to the duration of the appointm ents for the bodies under the TNC, she proposed 
that these Chairpersons be invited to serve until th e next Session of the Ministerial Conference.  This 
would be in keeping with the term of office for th e previous appointees that  had been established by 
the TNC at its first meeting in January and Fe bruary 2002 and again by the General Council in 
February 2004. 
92. The General Council took note  of the statement and of the consensus on the two slates of 
names. 
93. The Chairman , on behalf of the General Council, expressed sincere appreciation to the 
outgoing Chairpersons of all WTO bodies for their very dedicated work in chairing these bodies during the past year, particularly given the heavy wo rk load in the lead-up to, and at, the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference.  She then recalled that, in accordance with paragraph 7.3 of the Guidelines for 
Appointment of Officers to WTO Bodies, the outgoing Chairpersons of the Council for Trade in Goods and the Council for Trade in Services w ould normally conduct consultations to select 
Chairpersons for the bodies established under the resp ective authority of the Councils they chaired.  
Paragraph 7.3 of the Guidelines also provided that  these Chairs should announce the start of their 
respective consultation processes at the February Ge neral Council, and work in close coordination in 
order to ensure the efficiency of the process a nd the balance mentioned in paragraph 3.3 of the 
Guidelines. 
94. Mr Himanen (Finland), Chairman of the Goods Council
, informed Members that, in 
accordance with the Guidelines in WT/L/510, he woul d be starting consultatio ns for the appointment 
of chairpersons to the subsidiary bodies of the C ouncil for Trade in Goods.  He would be carrying out 
this process with a view to proposing and agreeing on a balanced slate of names at the next meeting of 
the Council for Trade in Goods, scheduled for 10 Marc h.  He intend to make sufficient time available 
to meet with any interested Members and to hear  their views and suggesti ons, and would be sending a 
fax to all Heads of Delegations the following da y indicating his availability for this purpose.  
Following this, he would conduct further consultations as necessary.  In order to  ensure the efficiency 
of the process and the balance mentioned in the Guid elines, he would work in coordination with the 
Chairman of the Services Council. 
95. Mrs Uribe (Colombia), Chairman of the Services Council , said that in accordance with the 
Guidelines in WT/L/510, she would start the cons ultation process for the appointment of the new 
chairpersons to the four subsidiary bodies under the Council for Trade in Services.  This process 
would aim at reaching agreement on a balanced slate of names that would be proposed at the next 
meeting of those subsidiary bodies, scheduled for 27-30 March.  For this purpose, she would 
undertake consultations in coordination with the Chairman of the Goods Council, and would make 
sufficient time available to meet with any interested Members. 
96. The representative of Romania , on behalf of the CEFTA-plus Members , congratulated all the 
newly designated Chairs and thanked the outgoing Chairs for their tremendous work.  The CEFTA-
plus Members supported the activity of the Chairs in each and every body, in  accordance with their 
commitment to this organization.  For the fourth year now, this group of countries had been volunteering to contribute more to the multilateral process, but had recorded no success.  However, they were confident that the calls made earlie r at the present meeting for more inclusiveness, 
transparency and representation, covering all Memb ers and their constituencies, had been heard.  
These countries were determined to make their contri bution to all of the activities of the organization. 
97. The General Council took note
 of the statements. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 22  
 
 7. Statement by Cuba on transparency 
98. The representative of Cuba
, speaking under "Other Business ", said he wished to address the 
topic of transparency, which had been repeatedly dealt with in statements by various developing 
countries at the meeting of the TNC the previous day.   As Members would recall, this topic had been 
discussed in the General Council in 2000 and 2002.  His delegation wished to refer to a joint 
communication from Cuba and the Bolivarian Re public of Venezuela concerning systemic 
irregularities in the WTO negotiating and decision-making procedures, circulated the previous day to all delegations as a room document at the TNC m eeting and also at the present meeting.  Cuba 
renewed its request for that document to be circulated formally.
6  During the Ministerial Conference 
in Hong Kong, and even during the preparatory pro cess in Geneva, a series of arbitrary and highly 
undemocratic consensus-seeking procedures had been used, and had been denounced in many 
instances by Cuba and by a majority of developing countries.  Among the irregularities that had occurred during the preparatory phase in Geneva were the following:  the late submission – 
26 November – of the first draft of the Ministerial D eclaration, leaving very little time before the start 
of the Conference;  the imposition of Annex C on Se rvices, the text of which had not found consensus 
among Members, but had been consistently rejected by  a significant part of the membership;  and the 
introduction, for the first time, of reports of Chairs of negotiating bodies as an integral part of the draft 
text of the Ministerial Declaration, instead of te xts agreed on by Members.  Subsequently, during the 
Ministerial Conference, another series of irregularities had taken place, including:  the holding of just two formal meetings during the entire conference – the opening and closing sessions – whose format 
had been designed so as to prevent delegations from taking the floor and stating their views on issues 
being submitted for approval, as no mi crophones were provided in the r ooms;  negotiations being held 
in "green rooms", with no mechanisms to guarantee  the transparency of what had been agreed by a 
handful of countries and subsequently imposed on the non-participating majority.  In the light of these 
irregularities, Cuba and Venezuela had recorded reservations during the closing session of the Conference on 18 December.  In Cuba's case, his de legation had voiced its objection to the outcomes 
in respect of services and electronic commerce.  It was incumbent on the WTO to guarantee at all 
times a transparent and reliable decision-making process,  especially at Ministerial Conferences, where 
decisions held implications for each Member's futu re work for a given period.  There should be no 
repeat of the situations described above, as these seriously undermined the credibility of the 
agreements reached and, by extension, that of the organization itself.  The General Council should 
continuously follow up and monitor the issues of transparency, participati on and inclusion of all 
Members and their proposals in the negotiating process,  and Cuba therefore suggested that this matter 
be made a standing item on the Council's agenda. 
99. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 said that as co-sponsor of the 
document referred to by Cuba, her delegation wished to reiterate, as it had on previous occasions, its 
concern over the manner in which the negotiation pr ocess, as well as the decision-making procedures, 
had been functioning in the organization.  Unless th e organization's mechanisms were transparent and 
inclusive of the demands of the majority of its Me mbers, which were largely developing countries, the 
balance needed for the Round to succeed would be lacking. 
100. The Chairman  said she was certain the Director-General and all Members present at the 
meeting of the TNC the previous day and at the present meeting had taken note of the statements 
made in this regard, and that, together with the Director-General and herself, they all shared a 
commitment to the continued improvement in the procedures and in the whole process by which 
Members conducted business. 
101. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
                                                      
6 The communication was subsequen tly circulated as WT/GC/105.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 23 
 
 
 8. Chairmanship of the Working Party on the Accession of Montenegro 
102. The Chairman  informed delegations that, following informal consultations among the 
respective Working Party Members and the authori ties of Montenegro, and in keeping with usual 
WTO practice, it had been agreed that Mr Logar (Slovenia) would replace the outgoing Chair of the 
Working Party and his predecessor as the Ambassador of Slovenia, Mr Gasnar.  On behalf of the 
General Council, she thanked Mr Gasnar for having chaired this Working Party since its 
establishment. 
103. The General Council took note  of this information. 
9. Election of Chairperson 
104. The Chairman , as the outgoing presiding officer of the General Council, said it had been 
almost exactly one year since she had been elect ed Chairman, and she was still filled with a great 
sense of humility and gratitude for the confidence pl aced in her and awed by Members' courage in 
making that decision.  It had been a most memorable experience serving the membership, and one she would always cherish.  However, all good things eventu ally had to come to an end.  The past year had 
been a watershed for the organization, one in whic h the membership had been challenged repeatedly.  
Members had shown they could rise to the occasion and deliver – they had come together and done 
right by the organization and by themselves.  They  could all be proud of the progress made thus far, 
emphasizing the consensus-building nature of thei r work, ensuring participation and ownership at 
every stage and striving to make the organization an  active partner in the broader global movement to 
alleviate poverty and promote growth, with the clear objective of improving the human condition in more ways than one.  She wished to thank all de legations for their help, cooperation and friendship 
during her chairmanship.  To the Council and Trad e Negotiations Committee Division, she wished to 
say that her two years as DSB and General Council Chair, respectively, had been phenomenal.  She had learned more than she had thought possible at her age, and knew that if a fraction of that stayed 
with her, her future would not be dull.  She wished  to thank the Director and staff of that Division, 
and also to thank her two facilitators during th e DG-selection process, Mr Glenne (Norway) and 
Mr Stephenson (Canada) for their encouragement, hon esty, support and, more importantly, friendship.  
They had guaranteed that her life would never be  the same again.  The General Council and the 
Negotiating Group on Market Access could not possibly be in better and steadier hands in the coming 
year.  She was grateful also for the support of Dr. Supachai and of Mr Lamy, the two Directors-
General with whom she had worked and for whom sh e had the utmost respect.  She also wished to 
thank the WTO interpreters, who had performed well beyond the call of duty, as well the many 
Secretariat staff who facilitated Members' work every day.  Last but not least, she wished to thank her 
colleagues at the Kenyan Mission, who had ta ken on a much heavier workload during her 
chairmanship, both at the WTO and at the UN, as well as her husband, who had always been supportive and who would be grateful that her chairmanship was coming to end.  In concluding, she wished to leave delegations with a thought, given th e interesting times in which they lived.  As they 
went about their daily business, they should think of  the dignity of fellow men and women and strive 
to defend and protect that dignity, and remember that in doing so they served their own humanity.  It took wisdom, courage and acceptance of a shared des tiny, and not just tolerance, to dignify those 
around one.  The worst sin towards fellow man and wo men was to be indifferent to them.  In her 
mind, this was the essence of inhumanity.  It did not ta ke much effort to be intolerant and dismissive, 
but it took thoughtfulness, generosity of spirit and enlightened self interest to be aware of and to 
recognize that one should be sensitive to one's fello w man, and not indifferent, if one was to share 
one's common space in harmony.  She wished the Ge neral Council and all delegations well in 2006 
and in the years to come. 
105. The General Council then unanimously elected
 Mr Eirik Glenne (Norway) to the Chair. WT/GC/M/101 
Page 24  
 
 106. The Director-General
 said that the outgoing Chair had proven to be one of the finest Chairs of 
the General Council.  As she had said, a year earlier she had been facing the daunting task of 
preparing the often divided membership for a cr ucial Ministerial Conference and managing a DG-
selection process which had been seen by all as a ma jor challenge to the organization.  In his own 
capacity – and he knew Dr Supachai agreed with hi m, because he had spoken to him the previous day 
– he wished to say that she had handled both of th ese tasks, and many others as well, with skill and 
grace.  Her keen understanding of the manner in  which the WTO functioned was absolutely 
remarkable.  She had shown real expertise on WT O rules and procedures, which was certainly an 
accomplishment, but probably more important than  all of this was that she had understood the 
heartbeat of this organization.  Her commitment to the most disadvantaged Members was complete 
and unwavering, and a legacy the Secretariat woul d make sure was retained in the work of the 
organization.  There had never been any question that she had represented each and every Member, 
although the bias towards the most disadvantag ed Members had been there and Members had 
accepted it.  She had acted fully in accordance with the principles of transparency, inclusiveness and 
equity, and the statement she had just made said mu ch about why she had handled matters this way.  
In doing all of this, she had created an environm ent which had helped all Members move forward.  
The outgoing Chairman would leave office with the respect, admiration and trust of all, and in the 
knowledge that the organization, and the General Co uncil, were now stronger and more confident as a 
result of her leadership.   
107. The incoming Chairman  said that it was now his turn to say a few words in honour of the 
outgoing Chair, which he found somewhat difficult, because she was a great personality.  This was the 
twelfth time that the Chairs of the General Council had changed, and in a way it had become a routine 
matter.  However, the departure of the outgoing Chair was anything but routine.  She had been the first woman to hold the position.  She had brough t both great warmth and gentleness, and great 
strength and determination to the role of Chair.  Sh e had worked tirelessly to make herself available to 
all and to hear their concerns.  She had insist ed on transparency and inclusiveness, for which 
Members had great respect.  She had given frank but fa ir assessments of the issues.  She had protected 
the Member-driven consensus based decision-making rules of the organization and had charmed all – 
Ministers, media and stakeholders.  She had done a ll this and more with her trademark elegance, her 
warm smile and her easy laugh.  Colleagues had comm ented to him that he might not do as well as the 
outgoing Chair because the journalists  would not have a crush on him.  For the record, he wished to 
say this was something he could live with.  In his role as Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body over 
the past year, he had had the pleasure and privilege of working very closely with the outgoing Chair.  
This had been an experience he would not have mis sed or traded for anything.  It had given him the 
opportunity to get to know a person of outstandi ng quality who had served this organization, and 
hence all, in a manner in which both she and Kenya could take great pride.  He had no hesitation in 
rating her performance as Chair of the General C ouncil a resounding success.  While she would be a 
tough act to follow, an even greater challenge lay before him, and thus be fore all, and that was 
delivering on the promise of the Doha Developmen t Agenda.  In Davos, some political leaders had 
recommitted themselves to reaching this goal in 20 06.  They had talked about moving forward in 
concert and had drawn analogies between the negotia tions and an orchestra performing a symphony.  
In most symphonies there were moments when a singl e instrument, a small group of instruments or a 
single section of an orchestra took the lead, but every instrument had an important role to play, and 
the harmonies created by many instruments togeth er was the ultimate measure of a successful 
performance.  He remembered that one Minister in Davos had carefully explained that even the player 
of the little metal triangle had to perform at precisely the right moment.  The score for Members' symphony had been composed in Doha in 2001.  By now, Members knew how many movements they 
had to play and had just enough time left to complete  them in 2006.  It was time to perform in concert 
and in harmony.  For his part, he could only commit to do his very best to hit that triangle at the right 
moment.  He was sincerely grateful to Members for the confidence they had placed in him in selecting 
him as Chair.  He would work hard to ensure th eir confidence was well placed, and looked forward to 
working closely with the Secretariat and the Director-General.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 25 
 
 
 108. The representative of Kenya  said he wished, on behalf of the Government of Kenya and in 
particular its Minister for Trade and Industry, to thank all for their support during the tenure of the 
outgoing Chair.  The confidence expressed by Memb ers in her and, by extension, in Kenya's 
leadership, had been very encouraging, and Keny ans had been honoured by it.  Kenya had been 
grateful for the privilege to have served the membership in the WTO process.  It welcomed 
Ambassador Glenne as the new Chairman of the Ge neral Council and wished him all the best in his 
new endeavour.  The latter could c ount on Kenya's support to ensure that the task put before Members 
by Ministers in Hong Kong was successfully  accomplished within the agreed timeframe. 
109. The Chairman  said that, in keeping with the scenario suggested for this Agenda item at an 
informal meeting of Heads of Delegation held the previous day, and without wishing to prevent any 
delegations from taking the floor, he  would propose to offer the floor under this item first to those 
delegations that had already earlier indicated their wish to speak, and whose names had been read out 
at the informal HODs meeting.  A number of th ese delegations represente d regional or other WTO 
groupings and, taken together, were  broadly representative of the membership as a whole.  He hoped 
that the members of the regional and other groupin gs whose coordinators were on this list would 
consider them to have spoken on be half of all of their constituents , and that all other delegations 
would also exercise restraint in seek ing the floor in addition.  He counted on Members' cooperation to 
ensure that they kept to a small list of speakers so that the words of farewell and welcome were 
broadly representative and at the same time manageable  in terms of process.  He invited those other 
delegations who so wished, to provide in writing to the Secretariat their words of farewell and 
welcome for inclusion in the records of the meeting. 
110. The representative of the European Communities  said he could dwell at length on the 
outgoing Chair as a person.  Her personality, ch arm, elegance, generosity, graciousness and 
intelligence were just a few qualities th at came immediately to mind.  She had come in as Chair at a 
critical time.  To start with, she had had to preside  over what all had feared might be a potentially 
divisive selection process for a new Director-General.  This had turned out not to be the case.  As all 
recalled, the process had gone smoothly, in very larg e part because of the fully deserved trust placed 
by the membership in the outgoing Chair.  She had guided Members firmly and fairly through the successive steps to reach consen sus.  She had continued the practice of confessionals in this 
organization.  For some, confessionals were part of  their upbringing, but having a confessional with a 
woman had raised some eyebrows.  Personally, he had had no problem whatsoever with this, until he 
had discovered that the confessionals included two other people.  Apparently, Members had decided 
that collectively.  He had cho sen to ignore the other two and had confessed three times to the outgoing 
Chair.  Obviously, he could not reveal what he ha d told her, but he knew what had come out of it – 
Pascal Lamy was now sitting next to her on the podi um, the same man who had told him time and 
again that the European Communities should make an  improved market-access offer in agriculture.  
He guessed this was his penitence.  The two assistan ts in the confessionals had come out more mature 
from their temporary association with the outgoing Ch air.  He was confident that Mr Stephenson was 
now sufficiently up to the task to provide new market access opportunities in NAMA, and that 
Mr Glenne had gotten the inspiration to guide all to a successful conclusion of the Round by the end 
of 2006.  Providing the WTO with a new Director-General had been only a start for the outgoing Chair.  She had also had the responsibility, togeth er with the Director-General, of preparing for a 
Ministerial Conference at a critical juncture in the Round.  Perhaps, as the first woman to be 
appointed as the Chair of the General Council, sh e had been able to call upon what were called 
"feminine" skills, such as intuition, relationship- building and communication.  She had done so with 
patience, delicately, and with much diplomatic skill,  and had helped navigate some difficult waters to 
Hong Kong and back to Geneva.  With the same sk ill, she had managed in the last few weeks to 
negotiate two slates of names for the chairmanship s of various WTO bodies.  Even more importantly, 
she had convinced some of the relu ctant Chairs to stay on.  He w as sure that her charm and capacity 
of persuasion had been instrumental in this resp ect.  In fact, the WTO owed a lot to the outgoing 
Chair, as continuity was now guaranteed.   WT/GC/M/101 
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 111. Apart from being a formidable General Council Chair, she had also been a figurehead of 
Africa and, indeed, of developing countries.  Sh e had been an outstanding advocate of developing 
countries' interests.  At the same time, she had br ought a sense of reality to the trade and development 
dimension.  He had been told that she had also been a very active member of the exclusive Club of 
women Ambassadors.  He had tried in vain, so far, to be invited to one of their luncheons.  He had 
decided that a more proactive approach might be more  effective and would invite all of them for lunch 
before the outgoing Chair's and his own departure.  On behalf of the Community, as well as on his own behalf, he thanked her for all the work, insight,  dedication and inexhaustible effort she had given 
to this organization, for the years she had been in Geneva and, particularly, through the past 
12 months.  He wished her well in whatever the future  might bring her.  He wished to conclude with a 
few words to the newly-elected Ch airman.  He was delighted that Mr Glenne had taken over the 
Chairmanship of the General Council.  He had di scussed this some time ago within the Ambassadors 
League soccer team, who had come to the unanimous  conclusion that Mr Glenne had the requisite 
skills to carry out the daunting tasks ahead.  Norwegians were known for their down-to-earth 
objectivity.  An Argentinean professor who was a social anthropologist had written of Norwegians 
that they possessed "the need for consensus a nd an ideology demanding a degree of equality and 
fairness that is almost mathematically calibrated".  This was the incoming Chair in a nutshell, and he 
was sure the latter would do a great job. 
112. The representative of the United States
 said his delegation wished to thank the outgoing Chair 
for her outstanding leadership of the WTO during a particularly challenging pe riod.  All owed her a 
huge debt of gratitude for her ma nagement of the past year's selection process for a new Director-
General.  That process had been fair to candida tes and Members alike and, unlike the previous 
experience with that process, had left everyone fee ling very positive about the process and the results.  
Members were also indebted to her for her untirin g efforts to keep the DDA negotiations on track – 
working with the Director-General  to guide Members to success in Hong Kong and setting the stage 
for the successful conclusion of the negotiations by the end of 2006.  However, important as those 
achievements were – and there were many other specific successes he could mention, such as the 
conclusion of the amendment to the TRIPS Agreem ent on access to medicines and the agreement on 
the LDC package of measures – her greatest gift was the day-in and day-out example she provided for all, in terms of what one should strive to be as a delegate, a representative of one's country, and a 
human being.  If all had had her ability to listen and to understand different views, to bring people 
together for a common purpose, and to show genuine r espect for everyone with whom they dealt, they 
would have finished this Round of  negotiations two years earlier.  Her comments toward the end of 
her remarks about respecting the dignity of everyo ne epitomized her character and the way she had 
conducted the leadership of this organization.  All knew that there were many frustrations working in 
the WTO.  However, one of the greatest compen sations for that was to work with so many 
outstanding people.  He could say without any exagge ration or fear of contradiction that the outgoing 
Chair stood out among the outstanding.  On a personal not e, he would always be very proud to say he 
had had the honour to work with the outgoing Chair and that she was his friend.  Another friend, and his predecessor as Ambassador, Ms Deily, had asked th at he convey her best wishes to the outgoing 
Chair and her thanks for all she had done for he r – both personally and professionally – during her 
time in Geneva.  He wished the outgoing Chair the ve ry best in her future endeavours, which he had 
no doubt would also meet with equally great success.  He also wished the fullest measure of success 
to the incoming General Council Chair, and pled ged the United States' full support as Members 
worked together to conclude successfu lly these negotiations during his tenure. 
113. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda
, also on behalf of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, 
Jamaica, St. Kitts an Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vi ncent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago , 
commended the outgoing Chair for her excellent wo rk throughout her term and the high level of 
diplomacy she had shown all – and in particular, the countries of CARICOM – in her very important 
role as General Council Chair.  It had been a great honour for CARICOM to witness the constructive 
spirit in which she had led Members towards the Ho ng Kong Ministerial Conference, when many had  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 27 
 
 
 feared that the Conference, given the wide dive rgences in agreement on many issues, would be in 
jeopardy.  As a result of the c ontribution of her superb skills, el oquence and experience, Members had 
been able to leave Hong Kong somewhat exhausted but with dignity, knowing that they had something to salvage for development and for th e Round.  They had set themselves an ambitious 
agenda, and as these countries listened to the Direct or-General's report on the recent TNC meeting – 
being among the smallest countries in the WTO – th ey sometimes felt overwhelmed by the deadlines 
they were mandated to meet, based on the Minist erial Declaration from Hong Kong.  Many times 
prior to Hong Kong, they had approached the outgoing Chair with their concerns, and she had always listened and acted.  It was such a leadership th at had helped them understand that they could 
overcome the seemingly daunting tasks before them.  They had had many interactions with her, and 
wished to thank her personally for her professi onalism and kind understand ing, despite his own 
challenging effort to represent six of the smallest Members.  CARICOM was indeed satisfied that in 
the outgoing Chair, they had had a great and fair leader who understood the issues of interest to them, had always offered to assist where possible, and had always been a dedicated stateswoman.  They 
wished her all success in the future  and looked forward to continuing to work with her in whatever 
role she took up.  CARICOM also wished to we lcome the incoming Chair to his new responsibilities 
and looked forward to continuing to complete the R ound with him as the key triangle player in this 
concert. 
114. The representative of Brazil
, on behalf of GRULAC , expressed the Group's appreciation for 
the sterling contribution by the outgoing Chair over the past year.  In that capacity, and as the first woman to lead the General Council, she had achieved significant accomplishments.  She had 
contributed enormously to the WTO by the manne r in which she had conducted the consultative 
process for the election of the Director-General.  She had also played a significant role in the 
preparatory work for the Hong Kong Ministerial Confer ence.  All were indebted to her for much of 
the spirit of compromise and flexibility that had emerged in Geneva during the final weeks of negotiations leading up to Hong Kong, and that  had paved the way for the draft Ministerial 
declaration.  She had also been unstinting in her e fforts during the Conference itself, in pursuit of an 
outcome that would ensure the continuation of th e negotiations to implement the Doha Development 
Agenda.  In addition, under her leadership Me mbers had taken an historic decision, from a 
humanitarian standpoint, to amend the TRIPS Agreem ent so as to lend stability to the 2003 Decision 
on patents and public health.  W ith skill and determination, the outgoing Chair had helped this 
organization achieve significant outcomes over the past year, and these were contributing to the 
strengthening of the multilateral trading system.  All had benefited from he r suggestions, experience 
and personal commitment.  He again thanked the out going Chair and wished her continued success.  
He also welcomed the incoming General Council Ch air.  All knew him and were well aware of his 
appreciable work in the WTO as Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, Chairman of the Working 
Party on the Accession of Viet Nam, and as a discussant at several meetings of the Trade Policy 
Review Body.  In all these activities, he had di splayed dedication, intelligence and professionalism.  
He wished him the best of luck, in the certainty that he would discharge this new responsibilities with 
great success.  His delegation also wished to thank the outgoing Chairs of the WTO bodies and 
negotiating groups for the meaningful accomplishments  of the past year.  GRULAC stood ready to 
cooperate with the incoming Chairs. 
115. The representative of Egypt
, on behalf of the African Group , congratulated the incoming 
General Council Chair and the other incoming Chai rs on the assumption of their new positions, and 
assured them of the Group's full support and cooperati on.  The Group thanked all outgoing chairs for 
the excellent work they had undertaken.  To the out going General Council Chair, he wished to express 
the appreciation and gratitude of her African brethr en for her dedicated efforts and outstanding skills, 
and for the leadership she had displayed during he r tenure.  She had led this organization with 
wisdom, stamina, charm and excellence during a very critical period which had witnessed extreme 
challenges for the future and the credibility of th e multilateral trading system.  She had made her WT/GC/M/101 
Page 28  
 
 country and her continent proud.  The African Group wished her all success in her future endeavours, 
which it was sure would be equally great, if not greater. 
116. The representative of Jordan
, on behalf of the Arab Group , expressed appreciation and 
satisfaction to the outgoing Chair for the exempl ary manner in which she had presided over the 
deliberations of the General Council during the past 12 months.  The year 2005 had been critical for 
the WTO and for the world trading system, and ther e had been a need for someone at the helm who 
would steer the organization on the unpaved road to Hong Kong.  Together with the new able 
Director-General, the outgoing Chair had prodded th e constituency to make every effort to save the 
DDA and to reach the modest success achieved in Hong Kong.  By combining her skill, determination 
and conviction, she had helped in the efforts to set  the tone for the membership.  She had handled the 
selection of the new Director-General excellently by applying the agreed procedures in an actual 
situation for the first time since their adop tion in 2002.  Moreover, in December 2005 she had 
contributed greatly to resolving the TRIPS and public  health issue, that had involved agreeing to the 
amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.  This was one important issue that had needed to be resolved 
before Hong Kong.  She had also paid much atten tion to other preparations for Hong Kong, especially 
regarding the issues of transparency and the inclus iveness.  Indeed, she had not been deterred by the 
magnitude of the tasks and had kept pressing fo rward until the take-off at Hong Kong.  A new 
Chairman had now been put in the cockpit.  Th e organization needed to take altitude and would 
hopefully land safely at the end of the current year  with the successful completion of the DDA.  The 
incoming Chair was highly qualified to do his share in this mission.  The Arab Group wished to congratulate him for the confidence placed in hi m by the membership.  His track record was 
impeccable as chair of the Dispute Settlement Body fo r the past year.  In the course of his previous 
posts in his professional career, he had accumulated the expertise and leadership skills to truly do an 
excellent job.  The Group was confident of his su ccess, especially as he had just assured Members of 
his commitment to the development nature of the R ound.  If the past year had been critical for the 
WTO, the current one was doubly so, and all knew why.  The incoming Chair could count on the 
support and cooperation of the Arab Group as he  discharged his responsibilities to help the 
organization meet the tremendous challenges it now faced.  He wish ed to congratulate all the new 
Chairpersons of the different bodies and to thank al l the outgoing Chairs for their efforts and good 
work. 
117. The representative of Mauritius
, on behalf of the ACP Group , expressed gratitude to the 
outgoing Chair for the professionalism and great leadership she had displayed in assuming this high 
office.  She had had to face – and so had Member s – important challenges during her term of office, 
not least of which was the appointment of a new Director-General and the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  She had always ri sen to the occasion, had carried Members along with her and had 
delivered results, with great competence and the uni que elegance that characterised her personality.  
All ACP Members were proud of her outsta nding performance – and he did not need  to remind all 
that she hailed from the ACP Group.  This Group had always believed in the multilateral system and 
had contributed positively towards its functioning.  The outgoing Chair's service had been a further 
testimony of the ACP's firm commitment to multilateralism in trade.  She would be a source of inspiration for all ACP members for the future and had set very high standards to emulate.  The ACP 
Group was sure that Members would benefit from he r rich experience in order to follow in her 
footsteps.  As for the incoming Chair, the Group congratulated and welcomed him in his new position 
as Chair of the General Council, and assured him of  its full cooperation.  The incoming Chair had 
now joined the club of those whose exposure to high pressure had increased, but there was no doubt 
he could manage that. 
118. The representative of Paraguay
, on behalf of the Informal Group of Developing Countries , 
said this was a special moment in the tide of affair s at the WTO, as Members paused to take leave of 
one Chairperson of the General Council and welcome a nother.  When they left the organization, all 
would count the years they had sp ent in it by the number of chairpersons with whom they had  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 29 
 
 
 interacted and, above all, by recalling those chai rpersons' qualities, style and accomplishments.  He 
was convinced that the outgoing Chair's stint as Chair of the General Council would be especially remembered and admired and, more than this, would stir a feeling of nostalgia .  All would recall that 
she had been the first woman – and the first Afri can woman – to be elected to that position, a 
noteworthy event at a time when other representa tives of the feminine gender were also acquitting 
themselves with distinction in positions normally occ upied by men, and were leading many to think 
that things ran better under feminine leadership.  The things that would forge a lasting memory were the quality of the outgoing Chair' s chairmanship, the manner in which she had executed her mandate, 
the way she had treated all, her sparkling yet natural personality, and the personal charm she had 
emanated during her year in office.  Members w ould not forget the fruits of her work, and would 
recall with admiration, for example, the manner in which, together with Messrs. Glenne and 
Stephenson, she had guided the complex and thorny process of electing a new Director-General.  The confidence she had inspired in delegations from th e very first interview, the discretion she had 
displayed at all times, the extraordinary respect Members had felt from her for their positions, all of 
this had enabled Members to make a good choice of Director-General, and to continue to work 
without a hitch.  Furthermore, from the very outse t, she had been able to consolidate an election 
mechanism which, beyond any doubt, was an invaluable innovation in the management of 
international institutions.  It would be no surprise if , in the future, other international organizations 
were to emulate the WTO experience in dealing w ith the usually sensitive matter of electing their 
authorities. 
119. Another component of the legacy the outgoing  Chair would leave the WTO was her effective 
contribution to the progress of the negotiations lead ing up to the Sixth Ministerial Conference.  Above 
and beyond the problems and gloomy predictions about the success of this Conference, there had always been the outgoing Chair's calm optimism an d determination, underpinned by untiring work 
and an unshakeable composure, which had inspired  Members to find optimum solutions that had led 
to a memorable meeting.  Many other accomplishmen ts could be mentioned, but the Group wished in 
particular to underscore the keenness of the outgoin g Chair to maintain and improve transparency in 
the WTO, which was of such vital importance to sm all delegations and to br inging legitimacy to the 
process.  All knew that transparency was an ongoing struggle and that perfection would never be attained, and also that satisfaction would come  only from steady and continuous improvement.  
However, the outgoing Chair had fulfille d her duty in the struggle for transparency and, in that regard, 
had been a faithful representative of the developing countries in the WTO.  He recalled the outgoing 
Chair's statement when she had become General Counc il Chair, referring to the need to shine in use 
rather than rust unburnished.  The Informal Group wi shed to tell her that her resplendent performance 
at the WTO had been decisive in helping the organization to continue to stand out amongst 
international institutions and, above all, to continue to illum inate the path of hope leading to 
prosperity for all nations.  The Informal Group al so welcomed the incoming Chair and wished him 
every success in carrying out his mandate.  It was su re that thanks to his well-known dedication and 
capability, backed by the experience already garnered in this organization, it would be congratulating 
him a year from now on a brilliant performance.  This would be no surprise, coming as he did from a country already renowned for its efficiency and in ternational leadership.  The Group was convinced 
that the incoming Chair would lead the General Co uncil with skill and impartiality, but he would not 
be unable to lead it with the out going Chair's sweetness and charm, as the latter would be taking these 
with her, and Members would miss them. 
120. The representative of Romania
, on behalf of the CEFTA-plus Members , said it would be 
stating the obvious to dwell on the charming presence of the outgoing Chair.  The Group wished to acknowledge her efficiency, team-work spirit and de termination to accomplish, in time and under the 
best possible terms, all tasks that given her.  When the present Director-G eneral had been selected, 
Members had congratulated themselves on a job well done, but the credit belonged to the outgoing 
Chair and her hard-working team.  She had always  had her ear open to Members' concerns and 
requests, and had done her best to allow the entir e WTO constituency to have its voice heard.  She WT/GC/M/101 
Page 30  
 
 had cited only several of the outgoing Chair's successes.  As she presumed that many other speakers 
would wish to take the floor, she would say nothing about the difficult sessions of the General Council or about the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and the role the outgoing Chair had played.  She wished her all the best in he r future endeavours and thanked he r for her work, as well as for her 
kindness and friendship.  As for the incoming Chair, there were hardly any wishes one could think of 
that would be out of the ordinary.  As all were heading towards an extraordinarily intense period in 
the WTO, the Group wished him good luck and inspiration, and was certain that his professional abilities would help find the right path to  fulfilling the Doha Development Agenda. 
121. The representative of Thailand
, on behalf of the ASEAN Members , expressed appreciation 
for the tremendous work carried out by the outgoing Chair during the past year.  Throughout her 
pioneering tenure as the first lady Chair of the Ge neral Council, all had been impressed with her 
charm and, at the same time, her dedicated nature and sense of determination in fulfilling the role of 
the General Council Chair, which was to help fac ilitate and conclude the Doha Development Round 
negotiations within the originally stated time-fr ame.  The ASEAN Members thanked her, together 
with the Director-General, for steering Members th rough some difficult differences in many difficult 
negotiating areas, among which agriculture, NAMA and,  in particular, development issues.  The 
outgoing Chair had always emphasized the import ance of the issue of development in the 
negotiations, and in this regard had made an effort to ensure that th is crucial element did not get lost 
among the tough negotiations in the more conventiona l areas of trade.  The Hong Kong Ministerial 
had been one of the important watersheds of the Doha Deve lopment Round, and the ASEAN 
Members thanked her for her role in the preparation,  as well as conclusion, of this crucial Conference 
and in keeping Members on track to achieve their d esire to conclude the Doha Development Round.  
They also wished to than k the Director-General and all Chairpersons of the regular bodies and of the 
negotiating groups for the hard work and excellent c ontribution they had made during the past year.  
Likewise, the ASEAN Members also  wished to welcome all incoming Chairs of the various bodies 
and negotiating groups.  They stood ready to work  closely with the incoming Chair of the General 
Council and the Director-General as all endeavoured  to conclude the Doha negotiations in 2006. 
122. The representative of Zambia , on behalf of the LDCs , recalled that at the TNC meeting the 
previous day, he had paid tribute and expressed the LDC's appreciation to the outgoing Chairpersons 
and had assured the incoming Chairpersons of th eir continued support and cooperation.  To the 
outgoing General Council Chair, the LDCs wished  to say thank you a million times.  She had 
performed her duties with great distinction and to th e entire satisfaction of the Group.  As an African, 
he wished to say that she had made Africa proud.  As a friend, his satisfaction was beyond 
description.  He wished her well in all her future  endeavours and asked that she convey his thanks to 
her husband, who had always stood by her.  To th e incoming Chair, he wished to congratulate him on 
his well-deserved election.  His eminent qualities had put him in that post.  The LDCs were proud of 
Norway, which had a listening ear, and assured him of their full cooperation.  They would do 
everything possible to ensure that his work was not only made light, but also enjoyable and 
interesting.  To all incoming Chairpersons, he wi shed to congratulate them as well as to assure them 
of the LDCs' cooperation, and to remind them not to forget S&D treatment as well as other 
development issues for LDCs, which would remain the hallmark of their work. 
123. The representative of Saudi Arabia  said that his delegation wished to echo every word that 
had been said about the outgoing Chair, particular ly her understanding nature, and to congratulate her 
on her magnificent performance.  She had led Member s through many difficult times in a way that 
had been dignified and that had show n her real personality.  He wished to thank her from his heart for 
all she had done.  All were really proud of her and wi shed her the best of luck for her future.  As to 
the incoming Chair, he wished to add his own word s to the words of welcome already stated, and to 
pledge his country's support, commitment and coopera tion towards the success of  the latter's job.  His 
delegation also wished to welcome all incomi ng Chairpersons and wished them good luck.  WT/GC/M/101 
 Page 31 
 
 
 124. The representative of Korea  said his delegation wished to a few more words to the many 
words of appreciation extended to the outgoing Chai r, as this was richly deserved.  The year 2005 
would be remembered as one of the most difficult fo r the WTO, especially in the context of the DDA 
negotiations, but Members had been fortunate to have had the outgoing Chair as General Council 
Chair.  Without the latter's competence and able  leadership, Members could not have successfully 
managed the negotiation process in the run-up to Hong Kong, where a solid platform had been 
established for the next phase of the negotiations.  He  was particularly pleased that, working together, 
the outgoing Chair and he had played their due part in resolving the issue of TRIPS and public health, which had been one of the key elements of the Ho ng Kong development package.  He wished to thank 
the outgoing Chair for all she had done in moving the DDA negotiations forward.  As all agreed, the 
organization was facing a formidable challenge in the months and years to come.  His delegation 
hoped that Members would continue to benefit from the outgoing Chair's experience and insight in dealing with this challenge in whatever capacity in which she might find herself. 
125. The representative of Uganda
 said his delegation wished to add its voice to those who had 
already spoken to thank the outgoing Chair for th e way she had successfully steered the General 
Council over the past twelve months.  This had b een a very trying time, with the change of the 
leadership at the WTO and the period leading up to the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference.  
It had required a multiplicity of skills to navigate the ups and downs of the Doha Work Programme, as 
well as the change in leadership.  From the comme nts made, and from Uganda's own observation, the 
outgoing Chair had performed exceedingly well, as ma nifested in the appointment of a very able 
Director-General and a successful conclusion of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  The 
outgoing Chair had followed on the success of a nother distinguished son from the East African 
region, Amb. Mchumo (Tanzania), who had chai red the General Council the first time the WTO 
leadership had changed.  Both of  these individuals had done East Africa proud, and Uganda had no 
doubt that the experience would be useful, as the East  African region deepened its integration process.  
Uganda would commit to see that the work the out going Chair had so ably  steered in the past 
12 months was successfully concluded.  In East  Africa, one always said "ASANTE SANA".  His 
delegation wished the incoming Chair all the best as the new Chair of the General Council.  The latter 
had spent some time in Geneva  and had shown Members his understanding of the process.  Uganda 
was certain he would build on what the outgoing Ch air had achieved, but the latter had left him the 
daunting task of concluding the Doha Round.  Th is was a big challenge, and the incoming Chair 
would need even bigger shoes than those of  the outgoing Chair in order to be successful. 
126. The General Council took note  of the statements. 
 
__________