WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/88 
24 February 2005 
 (05-0772) 
General Council 
15 February 2005 Item 11 Original:   English 
 
  
STATEMENT BY THE INCOMING CHAIRMAN 
 
 
I would like to thank the members of the Gene ral Council for the honour to Africa, Kenya and 
myself by electing me Chair of General Council of the World Trade Organization.  I feel especially humbled to be the first woman to Chair the Counc il.  For this privilege, I am grateful.   
  Chairman, bear with me.  Let me make a fe w remarks about issues before the Council, our 
work together, and the year ahead of us.  This pr obably is the only speech I will make in Council.   
 
But, the starting point, however, is the debt  of gratitude owed you, Ambassador Oshima, by 
the General Council for your stellar leadership.  Sin ce the launch of the DDA, last year was critical, 
perhaps more than any other year.  We were close to the loss of the Doha Trade Round.  The General 
Council under the quiet but solid technical leadership  of Ambassador Oshima, rose to the challenge to 
ensure that the DDA was not abandoned either b ecause of Members frustration with the speed of 
progress or due to entrenched positions before the Ju ly Package.  Ambassador Oshima has now joined 
the pantheon of an illustrious lis t of General Council Chairs who, wh en confronted with the challenge, 
rose to the occasion, persevered and produced concrete  results and progress in the work of Council.  
Ambassador Oshima, on behalf of the Council I convey our gratitude to you. 
 
This year the Organization will be challenged.  Difficult decisions will have to be made.  And 
we know it.  We cannot afford distractions, paralysi s, drift or controversy.  Neither can we allow 
ourselves to be stymied by perceived irreconcilabl e differences.  We are at a historic juncture. 
 
If we compare, in recent memory, a similarly tough year was 1999.  I believe that together, 
with the necessary goodwill and resolve we will be ab le to respond to the challenges we shall face.  
And respond to the problems that we have to solve.   I am ready to play my part and exercise the 
leadership necessary on your behalf, in the hard and pa inful decisions that need to be taken this year.  
But progress and success can only be achieved collectivel y.  In several areas, as you already know, we 
have to bite the bullet. 
 
We are faced with three major challenges this y ear.  First, the organization and preparation of 
the 6
th WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, China, in December. 
 Second, to make substantive progress in Agriculture, Non-Agricultural Market Access 
(NAMA), Services, Rules and Development issues before the Summer break.  And, third, in the 
shortest possible time, to elect a new Director-Gen eral for the Organization from the four excellent 
candidates that we have.  But beyond these immediat e tasks there are the legitimate expectations that 
WTO must show from the results of its work (and not merely from a statement of its rules, goals, 
objectives and agenda) – that it can continue to raise the level of its contributions to the over-arching 
goals of international cooperation, to achie ve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 
particularly for poverty reduction. 
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 Much has been achieved and much accomplished in the multilateral trading system. But as we 
all know, so much more remains to be done.  The inescapable dilemma for the WTO is that because it 
is a result-oriented Organization with outcomes directly affecting various spheres of national 
economic life, the organization is and will be cons istently judged by real outcomes on a success and 
failure yardstick.  It is difficult to escape this dilemma.   
 
But maybe, the absence of dulln ess and the lack of respite fo r the WTO is not such a bad 
thing after all.  I recall one of my favourite poe ts Alfred Lord Tennyson, who in his poem “Ulysses” 
writes, “How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to  rust unburnished, not to shine in use as tho’ to 
breathe were life.  Life piled on life were all too li ttle, ….”.  And he goes on to write: “Tho’ much is 
taken much abides”. As an Organization, we are ch allenged and in responding, we need to set clear 
achievable priorities and provide the co llective leadership to achieve them. 
  
The cardinal priority is to intensify our  work and accelerate our efforts on the DDA 
negotiations, with a view to completing the negotiations  as early as possible.  At the same time, within 
the DDA negotiations, we need to acknowledge that there are areas of urgency, themselves linked to 
broader global priorities.  
Liberalization in Agriculture, NAMA, Serv ices and Trade Facilitation are vital and 
indispensable.  They are linked to broader nati onal and global objectives of growth, poverty reduction 
and development. The Marrakesh Agreement clearly recognized and the Doha Declaration reaffirmed 
the role of multilateral trade in the growth of economies.  Being from a developing country myself 
and recognizing the importance and potential of free trade in achieving economic growth and 
reducing poverty, makes the WTO's role both central and pivotal.  Within the framework of the rules 
and disciplines of the Organization and having regard  to the necessity for significant improvements in 
market access, we need to better respond to the needs of the weakest, the poorest and the most 
vulnerable amongst the Membership.  If we do not,  questions will remain about the development 
meaningfulness and relevance of the organization.   The G8, the recent World Economic Forum at 
Davos, and other international fora have identified Africa as priority.  
 We too need to think more clearly and more creatively about the Organizations contribution 
to poverty reduction in Africa. We too need to join and contribute to these efforts more significantly.  
The WTO is and must remain part of  the broader international agenda.   A lot of our efforts will turn 
on progress in the Agriculture negotiations within  which cotton and other agricultural commodity 
sectors are being treated and which have huge potenti al development dividends for Africa and LDCs.  
What Members already know and which sometimes need s reaffirmation is that systemic responses to 
the Development and the Trade Aspects of the Sect oral Initiative on Cotton and more broadly to the 
improvement of trade and development opport unities for commodities are key tests of the 
development responsiveness of the WTO, as seen by Africa and the LDCs. 
 
 In focusing on the priorities of the DDA negotia tions, we need to keep our eyes on the wider 
objectives of international cooperati on, and coherence amongst the prin cipal economic institutions for 
growth, poverty reduction, developm ent and environmental protection. 
 
These are the key objectives for our generation.  We  can not simply state them as  objectives.  
The results of our work and the output of our Organiza tion need to be more directly related to specific 
outcomes.  The WTO, WB and the IMF have key roles to play.  Without improved coordination and coherence amongst these Organizations, progress will be severely lacking in issues on the global 
agenda. 
  No member – not one – can go it alone.  There is no greater challenge in the world today than 
poverty reduction because, amongst other reas ons, poverty reduction will contribute to 
democratization, to the fight against terrorism and give hope; reducing the desperation, hopelessness  WT/GC/88 
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 and misery, which sometimes (but not in all instances)  drive individuals and fr inge groups to hatred, 
violence and flagrant abuses of human rights.  Gr owth from trade liberalization will also contribute 
significantly to the fight against HIV/AIDS and di seases such as malaria, TB, Polio and others.  It 
must be our priority that individual countries be encouraged to commit themselves to making better 
use of multilateral institutions.  That is why they we re created.  But there is also a responsibility for 
sustained and effective leadership by the heads of  multilateral institutions and a need for them to 
combine the small picture with the larger globa l picture.  Strengthening multilateralism is a key 
priority.  Institutions need to link their in dividual mandates to the broader global mandate. 
 
The non-discriminatory rules-based multilateral trading system has made vital contributions 
in the past half century.  The WTO works and is e ffective, but we must strengthen and improve it. I 
would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to Director-General Dr. Supachai for establishing the group of wise men, who have produced a repor t on how the Organization can be strengthened.  
Their report merits careful study.  Members have already given initial reactions.  Collectively, we 
need to pursue this dialogue and seek results, wh ere possible, to strengthen the organization, 
particularly in respect of the Secretariat.  The WTO Secretariat has been a solid and reliable anchor 
for the Organization.  But now, we need to make su re that its senior managers merit recruitment, are 
well placed for the right jobs, and that its human resources are better, more efficiently and rationally 
deployed.   
An immediate priority is the selection of th e next Director-General.  There are four 
candidates, but only one can be selected.  We can neither allow this process to become a distraction 
nor can we afford to dedicate more time than is necessary.  Our substantive preoccupation must 
remain the preparations for the Hong Kong, China Ministerial. 
 My commitment to consensus-based decision maki ng is absolute.  This has been the practice 
of our Organization.  I intend to maintain it.  Although some conclude that it is our weakness, I 
conclude that it is our strength (notwithstanding the frustrations that it can generate).  The 
Organization will again be put to the test this y ear in several areas on account of consensus decision-
making.  But, perhaps, think of it in the way that Magnus  thought of related issues in his discussions 
with Orinthia in George Bernard Shaw’s, “The  Apple Cart”.  Magnus says to Orinthia:   "Well , what 
more can you ask?  Do not let us fall into the comm on mistake of expecting to become one flesh and 
one spirit.  Every star has its own orbit; and betw een it and its nearest neighbour there is not only a 
powerful attraction but an infinite distance.  When  the attraction becomes stronger than the distance 
the two do not embrace; they crash together in ruin.  We two also have our orbits and must keep our 
distance between us to avoid a disastrous collision.  Keeping our distance is the whole secret of good 
manners; and without good manners, human soci ety is intolerable and impossible”.   
 
The point of all this of course is that balance, respect for the vital (and only the vital) interests 
of Members in our system of consensus – based deci sion-making is critical, if we are, in the words of 
Magnus to Orinthia not to “crash together in ru in” and if we are to “avoid a disastrous collision”. 
 Members need to participate fully in and suppor t the work of the TNC. I would like to pay 
tribute to the Director-General for what he has achieved.  As well as for his continuous efforts.  I am 
committed to working in close cooperation with Di rector-General, Dr. Supachai and whoever his 
successor will be.  
We also need to provide support to Chairper sons of WTO standing bodies and the negotiating 
groups.  Regional groups have an impact on the functioning of the mu ltilateral trading system.  I will 
maintain contact and consult with Chairpersons  of standing bodies and negotiating groups and 
coordinators of regional groupings. 
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 In conclusion, let me emphasize the need for speed in respect of the tasks and challenges 
before us.  The current signals and reports are pos itive but there is still much to do.  We need to 
change gears and to improve our play in several ar eas as we prepare for Hong Kong, China.  Formal 
and informal consultations among Am bassadors, senior officials and Ministers will remain part of our 
preparatory efforts.  But I wish to assure the Counc il that decisions will only be taken by the entire 
WTO membership.  I know for sure that the Director-General and I will ensure full participation and 
the transparency of the results by the membersh ip in meetings and consultations, but clearly 
understanding that different mechanisms, arrangement s and formats will be used to serve the larger 
interests and priorities of the Organization. 
 
I thank Members, my colleagues and friends fo r the honour in electing me as Chairman of 
General Council for 2005. I am grateful to the A frican Group for nominating me and pay tribute to 
our dear coordinator Ambassador Mathew Nwagwu of  Nigeria for his leadership, encouragement and 
wisdom.  I thank my friends in the Secretariat.  L ast, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my 
colleagues Mr. Ndirangu, Mr. Wanjala, Mrs. Kamau,  Lynette and especially Khaled, my husband, for 
his support and friendship.   
 I pledge to you that I shall do my best.  W ith your support I am confident that we can 
significantly advance the DDA.   
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