RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/115 
1 April 2010 
 
 (10-1785) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11 MARCH 2010 
 
 1. The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on 11 March 2010 under 
the successive chairmanships of Ambassador Marie-Claire Swärd Capra (Sweden) and Mr. Pasi-
Heikki Vaaranmaa.  The terms of reference and composition of the Committee are set out in 
document WT/L/44/Rev.1.  The agenda contained in document WTO/AIR/3519 was adopted with two items under 'Other Business'. 
I. ADMINISTRATIVE UP-DATES AND PROGRESS REPORTS AS AT 
28 FEBRUARY 2010 
A. WTO
 BUDGET AND FINANCE REPORT (CRP(10)01) 
2. A member of the Secretariat presented the situation regarding Members' contributions as at 
28 February 2010 showing that CHF 91 million of the assessed CHF 188 million had been received 
and that 44 Members or 29 per cent of the Memb ership had no outstanding balance.  Payments 
received from Observers represented 27 per cent of the total assessment of CHF 0.9 million.  With respect to Members under Administrative Measures, it was reported that 26 Members were under 
Administrative Measures at the end of February, comp rising three in Category I, five in Category II, 
two in Category III and 16 Members in Category IV  (Inactive).  Since that date, two Members, 
El Salvador and Kenya, who had previously been in  Category II, paid up their arrears and were taken 
off the list of administrative measures.   
3. The cash situation showed that the WTO held CHF 120 million on its bank accounts, 
including the working capital fund and extra-budgetary funds.  It could be considered as adequate and 
above the situation at the same time of the previous  year.  However, the interest rates on Swiss francs 
were currently very low. 
4. The budget performance as at 28 February 2010 w as generally on track.  However, in the area 
of dispute settlement, a higher level of activity th an originally foreseen could be observed.  The 
second area of risk was connected to the building project whose size and complexity continued to 
represent a financial risk for the Secretariat. 
5. An update on the implementation of the Intern ational Public Sector Accounting Standards 
(IPSAS) was provided (CRP(10)04).  It was repor ted that the project remained on schedule to 
progressively reach compliance by 2012.  The revi ew of accounting methods for a range of employee 
benefits had been completed and w ould be included in the 2009 financial statements.  The upgrade of 
the accounting system would be completed in April 2010. 
B. E
XTRA -BUDGETARY FUNDS REPORT (CRP(10)02) 
6. The Committee was informed that, as at 28 February 2010, total funds in the Doha 
Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAG TF) stood at CHF 14.2 million.  Pledges of 
CHF 4.5 million were expected to be received s hortly.  Expenditure amounted to CHF 10.6 million, WT/BFA/115 
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  leaving an available balance of CHF 3.6 million.  These figures already included commitments for 
eleven future activities planned from May to December. 
7. It was further reported that 12 new interns ha d taken up their assignment for ten months with 
the Internship Programme for Selected Missions and another 12 interns with the Netherlands Trainee 
Programme.  Following the agreement of the donors, the Trust Fund for the Trade Facilitation 
National Needs Assessment, originally established in 2007 for two years, had been extended until end 
2010.  The Trust Fund to Facilitate the Participation of  Capital-based Officials in the Meetings of the 
Negotiation Group on Trade Facilitation, established in 2008 in order to assist African and Least 
Developed Countries to participate more effectivel y in the WTO trade facilitation negotiations, would 
also continue in 2010, following a request by  Members. Sweden, the UK and the European 
Commission had already announced additional volunt ary contributions.  The Trust Fund to Facilitate 
the Participation of LDCs in the 7
th Ministerial Conference had been u sed to fund the participation of 
122 LDC representatives to the Ministerial Conference held in Geneva at the end of last year. 
C. HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT  
8. The new Director of the Human Resources Division was welcomed by the Committee and 
presented an overview of the Human Resources Divisi on by funding source, showing that 93 per cent 
of the staff were funded by regular budget and 7 pe r cent from extra-budgetary funds.  An overview of 
the distribution of temporary staff by division was also provided.  With respect to the Human 
Resources key activities, it was reported that the performance evaluation exercise for 2009 had been 
completed and that, in 2009, the training courses had especially focussed on management training, 
involving 700 staff, but also on language training, IT training and career development. Furthermore, 
7 community forums and 15 external speaker series were held in 2009.  An overview of the WTO 
internship programmes by type and by division was provided. 
D. WTO  PENSION PLAN REPORT (CRP(10)03) 
9. The Secretary to the WTO Pension Plan reported that, with respect to the ongoing review of 
the investment strategy, the Management Board had established a short list of candidates to manage 
the various mandates.  As a next step, each candida te manager would be inv ited to submit quotations 
both for the management of the full range of asset classes in the strategy and for each individual asset class.  They also would also be asked for their views on the most appropriate management style for 
each class as well as the most appropriate benchmark.  At the same time, a professional adviser to assist the Board in the implementation of the strategy and the final selection of managers would be recruited. 
10. The Management Board would also proceed with  the examination of the quotations received 
from the insurance companies invited to tender for th e coverage of in-service death and disability risk, 
with a view of outsourcing this coverage. 
E. B
UILDING PROJECT REPORT  
11. The Committee was informed that a new phase in the building project was about to start.  The 
management of the renovation project, financed by  a grant from the Swiss Confederation, was the 
responsibility of FIPOI, whereas the management of  the intra-muros project and the new building, 
financed by a loan from the Swiss Confederation, wa s the responsibility of the WTO.  In order to face 
these new challenges, the WTO Secretariat had stre ngthened its internal management structure and 
hired the services of professionals in building management at the end of 2009.  The works on the intra-muros project were scheduled to start this  summer.  The loan of CHF 20 million had been 
approved by the Swiss Government at the end of 2009.  The design of the new building (extra-muros) 
by the architects was well advanced and the loan of CHF 40 million should be approved by the Swiss  WT/BFA/115 
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  Government at the end of 2010.  The work on th e building would start in 2011 and was due to be 
completed by the end of 2012.  It was added that, due to financial constraints, the original five floors 
of the building had been reduced to only four fl oors in order to match the financial envelope. 
12. A Member enquired if any additional parking spaces had been foreseen at the end of the 
project as well as during the construction period. The me mber of the Secretariat replied that at the end 
of the project, the number of parking spaces on site and off site would be approximately the same as 
before the start of the works.  The Secretariat ha d been informed about the planned construction of a 
new major corporate headquarters on the current Séch eron car park.  This new building would contain 
400 underground parking spaces reserved for the WT O in replacement of the 400 spaces currently 
available at Sécheron.  During the construction of the new building, the Swiss authorities would 
provide parking spaces in the area of the Avenue de France.  At the same time, the WTO would 
continue to work on incentives for staff to come to work by public transport. 
F. WORKING GROUP ON ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES  
13. The Chair of the Working Group on Administra tive Measures informed the Committee that 
he had held consultations during the last semest er of 2009 with most members in arrears having 
delegations in Geneva in order to enquire about th e reasons for the arrears and to plan actions for 
payment of the outstanding contributions.  Overall,  the main causes were political instability, financial 
constraints and the absence of diplomatic representa tion in Geneva.  The majority of the Members 
consulted did not see any immediate solution to the problem.  Few members offered prospects for a positive outcome in the short term.  In this respect, the Chair welcomed the intention of Côte d'Ivoire 
to sign a payment plan with the Secretariat. 
14. At the working group meeting held in January, the Secretariat presented a number of 
documents including a comparison between penalty schemes in the WTO and other UN-organisations 
as well as a comprehensive database for Members in arrears including fact sheets by Member with detailed information. The Chair presented at that  meeting the results of his consultations with 
members in arrears. 
15. A new meeting of the working group was programmed for 18 March 2010.  During that 
meeting the Working Group would go through the existing administrative measures one by one and 
also discuss the absence of administrative measures for Observers.  For a subsequent meeting of the 
Working Group, a recommendation would be formali sed in order to be presented to the Committee 
for approval. 
II. REPORT ON DIVERSITY IN THE WTO SECRETARIAT  
(WT/BFA/W/195/CORR.1&2) 
16. A member of the Secretariat presented the first Annual Report on Diversity.  This report 
represented an update to the report presented in November, including data until end 2009 by Member, 
gender, number of applications received by Memb er and also diversity data on WTO internship 
programmes.  With respect to the WTO's recruitm ent policy, it was pointed out that the WTO Staff 
Regulations stipulated the need for diversity and eq ual opportunity, with the main criterion the need to 
maintain a merit-based recruitmen t process.  Only where merit was equal among candidates, were 
diversity needs were taken into account in the final hiring decisions.  WTO staff were required to sign 
an oath to act with full integrity, impartiality and independence and were not to take any instructions 
from any Members in the performance of their official functions.   
17. External vacancies were advertised on the WTO website and also provided to all WTO 
Missions, International Organizations and Institutions.  In general, the pool of suitable candidates for 
a position would increase with a wider spread of vacancy notices.  The statistics for 2008 and 2009 WT/BFA/115 
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  showed a relatively low number of applicati ons from under-represented Members.  Therefore, 
especially under-represented Members were invited to c onsider ways to ensure a wider distribution of 
WTO vacancy notices, for example in their universities and ministries. 
18. Looking at the statistics since 1995, several positiv e trends could be observed:  the share of 
professional staff, excluding linguistic staff, repres ented by developing and least developed countries 
had increased from 20.7 per cent to 35 per cent.  From  2005 to 2009, 46 per cent of the non-linguistic 
professional appointments had been from developing a nd least developed countries.  The data also 
showed a steady increase in the percentage of  professional non-linguistic staff from Asia, Latin 
America and Africa.  Regarding the diversity of Members represented in the Secretariat since 1995, 
the number had increased from 49 to 75. 
19. It was added that the Secretariat had also ma de progress with respect to gender diversity.  
Between 1995 and 2009, the proportio n of professional woman had increased from 13 per cent to 
22 per cent, whereas the number of female support st aff had declined from 42 per cent to 31 per cent.  
Regarding senior appointments in  the Secretariat, the number of women in senior management 
positions had increased from none in 1995 to seven in 2009. 
20. Over the period from 2005 to 2009, the five WT O Internship Programmes had allowed for the 
participation of 502 candidates from 127 countries with a very good representation across regions.  
Out of the 502 interns, 66 per cent were from developing countries and LDCs. 
21. In a joint statement, several Members thanked the Secretariat for the report on diversity, but 
highlighted that diversification remained an issue,  especially for developing Members.  The statement 
believed that diversification should remain as a l ong term objective of the recruitment policy of the 
WTO and urged the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration to continue its work in the 
future aiming at systemic and conti nuous improvement of diversity of th e Secretariat.  It then shared 
several proposals on measures to be taken in the futu re.  The Annex 1 is attached to this report. 
22. Several other Members supported the joint stat ement.  One Member indicated that the 
Secretariat should reflect the development of the mu ltilateral trading system and that a higher level of 
diversity could be considered as enriching for the WTO.  Several other Members expressed their 
support for diversity but thought that merit should rema in the first criterion for recruitment in order to 
recruit staff of the highest possible quality.  It wa s also felt that selection decisions should not be 
made on the basis of minimum eligibility criteria.  In case of equal merit, priority should be given to 
diversity.  The same Members also considered that the current system should be retained and the Staff 
Rules and Regulations should not be changed. 
23. The Secretariat indicated that it would continue its efforts to work on the diversity of the 
WTO and that the discussions would be ta ken up again at a subsequent meeting. 
III. ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR INAC TIVE MEMBERS  (WT/BFA/W/196) 
24. The Committee was informed that the Republic  of Côte d'Ivoire had accepted a payment 
scheme to liquidate its outstanding contributions ov er a period of 10 years, starting in 2010.  The 
outstanding balance as at 4 March 2010 of CHF 828,578 would be cleared through ten annual and 
equal instalments of CHF 82,858.  The Chair congrat ulated the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire for their 
commitment to clear their outstanding contributions.  The Committee approved the following recommendation: 
25. In accordance with the decision of the General Council of 15 May 2006, the Committee 
on Budget, Finance and Administration recomm ends that the General Council suspend the 
application of the administrative measures for the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, which agrees to,  WT/BFA/115 
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  and undertakes to abide by, a schedule of instalment payments aimed at liquidating all arrears 
over a period of ten years starting on 1 January 2010.  The payments must be received no later 
than 31 December of each year, failing which the administrative measures will be reinstated.  
IV. OTHER BUSINESS 
A. LETTER FROM THE STAFF COUNCIL  
26. Members were informed that the Director-Gen eral had received a letter from the WTO Staff 
Council proposing that the funds reserved for th e 2010 bonus payments be exceptionally used to 
support the victims of the Haiti earthquake.  It was a dded that the Director-General had not yet replied 
to the letter and Members were invited to provid e their comments to Deputy Director-General Yerxa 
or Mr. Do Prado, either informally or by e-mail. 
B. DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS  
27. One Member reported that he had been c ontacted by the Documents Reproduction and 
Distribution Section and a better solution had been found for the distribution of documents within the 
Mission.  Documents would now be sent to the different divisions of the Mission and no longer to individual staff, thereby making for a more efficient distribution of documents.  
V. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON 
28. The Chair recalled that the General Council at its meeting in February had taken note of a 
slate of names of officers for the various WTO sta nding bodies.  On the basis of the understanding 
reached, she proposed that the Committee on Budget,  Finance and Administration formally elect 
Mr. Pasi-Heikki Vaaranmaa as the new Chair of the Committee by acclamation.  The Committee so 
agreed. 
29. Mr. Vaaranmaa assumed the Chair, thanked the Committee for its confidence and indicated 
that he looked forward to a good working year in 2010. 
30. The next meeting is scheduled for 19 May 2010. 
 
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 WT/BFA/115 
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  ANNEX 1 
 
Joint Statement on Report on Diversity in the WTO Secretariat CRP(09)29
 
 
Thank you Madame Chair,  
 1. We would like to express our appreciation to you as the Chair for leading us into a continuous 
and dynamic discussion of this important issue. Ou r appreciation also goes to DG Lamy, DDG Yerxa 
and the Secretariat for this informative Report on Diversity in the WTO Secretariat  (CRP(09)29) 
circulated on November 19
th. The prompt and detailed report by the Secretariat is a welcome sign and 
we believe all of us can make progress on this issue on the basis of shared goals. 
2. We welcome that this Report will be circulat ed as a formal CBFA document with updated 
information for the whole 2009 so as to facilitate  information-sharing among Members. We also 
welcome the initiative of DG Lamy to share with CBFA  annually in the future on the efforts made to 
improve diversity as suggested in his 2010-2011 bienni um budget proposals. It is our view that this 
Report will serve as an excellent basis for that initiative in the future. 
3. While appreciating the continuous and acceler ating improvement of diversity of the 
Secretariat since 1995, we note with regret that divers ification remains a serious issue, particularly for 
developing Members. To take just a few examples  as contained in the Report, 79 Members have no 
nationals in the Secretariat at present (paragraph 18), most, if not all, of which are surely developing 
ones; among the top 24 Members with most nationals in the professional staff, though the numbers of 
developing and developed Members are close with  10 developing ones and 14 developed ones, the 
numbers for staff they actually take differ vastly , with only 17.9% for developing ones and 62.4% for 
developed ones (paragraph 19); also for professiona l staff, developing Memb ers take only 31.8% and 
the LDCs among them only 3.6% (Annex 4) while de veloped Members take 68.2%. We remain also 
interested in the information about diversity situat ion at the management level of the Secretariat.  
4. We are encouraged by the positive reaction to the Joint Proposal on the Improvement of 
Diversification of the WTO Secretariat  (WT/BFA/W/191) at this initial stage of our discussion and 
urge the CBFA to continue its work in the future  aiming at systemic and continuous improvement of 
diversity of the Secretariat. While acknowledging the essential objective to have the highest possible 
standards of competence as the primary basis for r ecruitments, we believe th at diversification should 
remain a long term objective of the recruitment policy of the WTO and the two are not mutually conflicting. Therefore, more systemic measures should be taken to increase the diversity of the 
Secretariat.  
5. To facilitate our discussion of this issue under the CBFA, we would like to share some 
preliminary thoughts as followed on the direction and corresponding measures we should take in the 
future:  
 A strengthened diversification policy.  This could be achieved by revising the Staff 
Regulation  with more elaborated language on divers ification or by formulating a separate 
statement or policy paper on diversification to  be approved by the General Council.  The 
language could be closely aligned along UN Or ganizations, World Bank, IMF, ITC, etc. 
 An enhanced recruitment with diversification.  This could be achieved by inserting in 
future recruitment notices a clear-cut langua ge to give preference to candidates from 
under/non-represented members subject to their meeting eligibility criteria.   WT/BFA/115 
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   An improved outreach to potential candidates. This could be achieved by adding new 
dimension to existing activities of the WTO, particularly the TRTA activities such as 
Trade Policy Courses, Regional and Nationa l Workshops, Public Forum and Geneva 
Week to further improve the dissemination of relevant information and reach out to potential candidates, particularly those from under/non-represented Members.  
 A regular review of the situation and discussion on way forward. This could be 
achieved with a regular review based on the annual report by the Secretariat on diversity as contained in DG’s 2010-2011 biennium budget proposals and subsequent discussion 
among Members on the way forward. CBFA should report such reviews and discussions and possible measures to be ta ken to the General Council.  
6. Finally, we commit ourselves to engage with Members to discuss the above-mentioned 
thoughts as well as ideas from other Members and the Secretariat. And, once again, we thank the Chair for your able leadership and the Secretariat for their hard work and look forward to a continuous 
and fruitful discussion in the future. 
 
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