RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/99 
26 September 2007 
 (07-4060) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
 
 
 
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 12 JULY 2007 
  
1. The WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration met on 12 July 2007 under the 
chairmanship of Mr. Tony Lynch of New Zealand.  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/3046 was adopted.  
2. This report should be read in conjunction with document WT/BFA/97 which contains the 
relevant recommendation of the Committee to the General Council. 
A. R
EPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP FOR THE SELECTION OF THE WTO  EXTERNAL AUDITOR  
3. The Chairman of the Working Group for the Selection of the WTO External Auditor, 
Mr. Henning Stirø, presented the group's report in document WT/BFA/W/160.  He recalled that the 
Committee had been informed at its meeting on 28 March 2007 that the mandate of the current WTO 
External Auditor, the Austrian Court of Audit, w ould terminate with the audit of the 2007 accounts.  
At that meeting, the Committee took note of the pro cedure which had been followed in previous years 
to identify a successor. 
4. He reported that after a call for competitive te nders had been issued to all WTO Members, 
19 national audit offices requested further information and six offers were ultimately received within 
the deadline. 
5. A working group was set up to examine the six offers received from the national audit offices 
of Austria, France, India, Morocco, Philippines and the United Kingdom.  The working group met on 
four occasions between 11 and 28 June 2007 to examine th e offers in the light of the criteria listed in 
the call for tenders, which were:  (i) audit costs in cluding preparation and presen tation of audit reports 
and certification of accounts;  (ii) availability for supplementary audit measures and costs;  
(iii) familiarity with international organizations’ practices;  (iv) lan guage abilities;  (v) availability for 
advice and consultation and costs;  (vi) ability to  express opinions on economy and efficiency (value-
for-money), and;  (vii) readiness to undertake aud it missions twice a year for the WTO accounts and 
once a year for the WTO Pension Plan accounts. 
6. During the course of discussion, the Working Group noted WTO Financial Rule 10.5 which 
states that “Whenever tenders have been sought or  an assessment of comp etitive prices has been 
made, contracts shall normally be awarded to the supplier quoting the lowest price for an acceptable 
offer…”. 
7. Bearing Financial Rule 10.5 in mind, the Work ing Group noted that two offers had quoted an 
audit fee of zero.  Having recognized the high ca libre of all the offers, the Working Group was 
nevertheless of the opinion that, of the two candida tes quoting the lowest price, the offer presented by 
the French Cour des Comptes  more fully addressed all the requirements laid down in the call for 
tenders. WT/BFA/99 
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  8. The Chairman, considering the above, reported that the Working Group proposed that the 
Committee consider recommending to th e General Council that the French Cour des Comptes  be 
nominated as External Auditor of the WTO account s and the WTO Pension Plan accounts effective as 
from the audit of the 2008 accounts for a period of six years.  It further urged consideration that, as in previous years, the mandate should include a pr ovision allowing either party to terminate the 
arrangement with a one-year notice. 
9. The Chairman reported that, in the course of its work, the Group had also touched upon two 
points which it considered merited further considerati on.  The first was that, for a future exercise of 
this nature, the formation of a working group at an earlier stage in the process would permit it to have 
an input in the formulation of criteria which woul d be included in the call for tenders.  The second 
point was that the Committee may wish to consider at some point revising the Financial Rules and 
Regulations of the WTO to limit the number of consecutive mandates any national audit office could 
be awarded. 
10. See Recommendation in document WT/BFA/97. 
B. R
EPORT ON FUTURE BUILDING NEEDS OF THE WTO  
11. The floor was given to the Permanent Represen tative of the Swiss Permanent Mission to the 
United Nations and other Internati onal Organizations in Geneva.  He  expressed his gratitude for the 
opportunity to present the views of the Swiss Federa l Council with regard to the headquarters of the 
WTO.  He said that he wished to present the resu lts to date of official discussions between the WTO 
Secretariat and the Host Country.  He indicated th at Switzerland attached th e highest importance to 
finding a solution to the needs of the WTO in terms of work space.  The basis for the discussions was, 
on the one hand,  the desire of the Director-General to house all staff under one roof and, on the other 
hand, the estimated growth of the WTO to some 1,200 staff by 2020. 
12. Three possible single-site solutions had been examined, namely building a new headquarters 
on a plot of land belonging to the International Labour  Organization or on a plot near Bellevue, or the 
extension of the Centre William Rappard (CWR).  In  view of the fact that construction of a new 
building could be a lengthy process, that there was so me uncertainty with regard to land availability, 
and that the costs (in the neighbourhood of CHF 255 and 275 million, respectively) for realization of 
the first two possibilities, he indicated that it had beco me clear that the extension of the CWR, the cost 
of which was estimated at CHF 150 million, was the most promising, the most rapid and the least 
expensive of the three options. 
13. For that reason, the Swiss Federal Council on 4 July 2007 had decided to mandate its 
representatives to pursue negotiations with a view to a densification of the CWR as the most adequate 
response to the building needs of the WTO, with th e rental of offices on the Chemin des Mines during 
the intermediate phase. 
14. The Swiss Permanent Representative ou tlined a number of measures, both intra muros  and 
extra muros  which would be aimed to meet the needs of the WTO.  Within the walls of the CWR, he 
mentioned the renovation of the entire building and, in  terms of densification, the construction of an 
additional wing as well as other measures.  He also  foresaw, outside the footprint of the CWR, an 
extension for offices and meeting rooms, to be situ ated, for instance, in th e area of the Montessori 
school and the Crèche du lac .  He estimated the overall cost to be approximately CHF 150 million for 
the renovation, as well as the intra muros and extra muros extensions of the CWR.  He said that the 
financial modalities would be among the points to be  negotiated between the Host Country and the 
WTO. 
15. His authorities realized that an intermediate solution would be required before the various 
works for the CWR could be planned and executed.  They proposed that the former Serono building  WT/BFA/99 
 Page 3 
 
 
  on the Chemin des Mines be rented in order not on ly to provide office space for the staff currently 
working in the Rue Rothschild annexe which was no longer a viable housing option, but also to meet 
the shortage of office space facing the WTO a nd to provide the necessary temporary accommodation 
for staff when the CWR was undergoing renovation. 
16. The Permanent Representative emphasised that th e adoption of a negotiating mandate by the 
Federal Council for the extension on the present site  of the WTO and rental of office space on the 
Chemin des Mines were important steps forward a nd that Switzerland was confident that a mutually 
satisfactory solution would be found. 
17. He indicated that the Host Country would need  progress toward the identification of clear 
preferences with regard to the overall solution envi saged.  He said that, as a priority, the WTO should 
inform the Swiss authorities officially on the pos ition of the General Council with regard to the 
Avenue de France project.  The fact that this project remained in abeyance, in spite of the fact that it 
no longer seemed to correspond to current wishes, co nstituted an obstacle to the optimal management 
of the question of the building needs of the WTO.  He suggested that it would be important that the General Council formally record that this project ha d been abandoned at its July meeting.  (The full 
text of the declaration of the Permanent Representati ve of the Host Country is attached as Annex 1 to 
this report.) 
18. A Deputy Director-General thanked the Permanent Representative of Switzerland and 
indicated that the decision seemed a very rational one in terms of cost and efficiency.  He emphasized 
that he was very pleased that the single site solution had been accepted, and that he took note that the 
intermediate needs had been taken into account and so lutions proposed.  He said that the Secretariat 
was prepared to work closely with the Swiss au thorities, while recognizing that the matter was not 
only one between the Secretariat and Switzerland, but for WTO Members as well. 
19. Members generally welcomed the position of the Swiss Federal Council as a positive 
development with regard to the future building need s of the WTO.  They nevertheless felt that it 
might be premature to dismiss the Avenue de France project before there was more clarity with regard 
to the costs of the new proposal.  One Member i ndicated that his government considered the amount 
of CHF 60 million originally foreseen for the Av enue de France project as a benchmark figure and 
stated that it is important to ensure that to tal cost to Members would not exceed 60 million. 
He also stressed the importance of the co-ope ration of Switzerland as Host Country with 
respect to both long-term and s hort and medium term solution .  Other Members brought up and 
expressed concern about the outstanding question of the CHF 5.5 million which had been expended 
on the preparatory phase of the Avenue de France project and stated that it was important to 
ensure that no liability woul d be incurred on Members.   Some Members stated that the 
estimate of 2 per cent annual incr ease of future staff number s should not be seen as an 
assumption and needed to be closely examined in future discussions.  
20. Another Member asked how the question of parking would be addressed. 
21. One Member indicated that the feasibility of the proposal needed to be based on criteria 
related to (i) functionality, number of work places, pa rking, access, etc., (ii) security aspects, and (iii) 
cost.  Another expressed the view that Members w ould have to be more closely involved in the 
discussions and negotiations with the Swiss authorities,  in much the same way that they were in the 
discussions leading up to the Infrastructure Agreement of 1995. 
22. The Swiss Permanent Representative said that he was encouraged to hear that there did not 
seem to be any major objections to the proposal of  the Swiss Federal Council.  He said that his 
authorities were conscious of the importance of the security and parking aspect s.  He recognized that 
Members were reticent to take the Avenue de Fran ce project off the table, which his authorities had WT/BFA/99 
Page 4  
 
  hoped would clarify the situation.  He stated, howev er, that this was not a condition to pursuing the 
proposal. 
C. S
ECRETARIAT VERSION .3 
23. A Member of the Secretariat explained that  the Secretariat was still in the process of 
finalizing the documents on Secretariat Version.3 proj ect.  When completed, they would then form the 
basis of consultations with Members. 
24. One Member indicated his delegation's strong inte rest in all aspects of the project, especially 
those which might have financial implications.  He requested that any relevant papers be distributed 
with adequate time for his authorities to examine them.  
  WT/BFA/99 
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Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft 
Confédération suisse 
Confederazione Svizzera 
Confederaziun svizra Mission permanente de la Suisse 
auprès de I'Office des Nations Unies et de 
autes organisations Internationales à Genève 
 
 
ANNEX 1 
 
World Trade Organization (WTO)  
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA)  
 
"FUTURE BUILDING NEEDS OF THE WTO"  
Statement by  
Mr. Ambassador Blaise Godet, Permanent Representative  
Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office and to the other  
International organizations In Geneva  
 
Geneva, 12 July 2007  
 
 
   Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present to you today the outcome, from our 
standpoint, of the official discussions that have  been taking place since December 2006 between the 
Director-General and the Secretariat of the WTO on the one hand, and Switzerland as host country on 
the other, and to discuss the most recent developmen ts on the Swiss side.  I recall that the purpose of 
the discussions which have taken place over recent m onths was to determine what the WTO's building 
needs actually are, and to find medium- to long-term solutions to meet those needs. 
  Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, as the Swis s delegation has had the opportunity to stress 
on several occasions, Switzerland attaches the utmost im portance to the quality of the environment in 
which the WTO operates in Geneva, and consider s it essential, among other things, that the WTO 
should have premises that reflect the importance of its mission.  Switzerland has been doing all that it 
can to work towards an appropriate solution to  the WTO's office space requirements, and will 
continue to do so.  The Director-General's wish that the WTO should operate from a single building in 
Geneva, and the Secretariat's estimate that staff numbers will reach 1,200 by 2020, have formed the 
basis of our discussions with the Organization.   We began at the outset of the process by identif ying three plots of land within the canton of 
Geneva which might be suitable for the WTO's new permanent headquarters.  The key criteria were 
size, given the estimated surface area that would be needed, and the prestige of the various locations.  
The sites are, in addition to the land occupied by the Centre William Rappa rd (CWR) where we are 
now, the "Grand Morillon" and "Champ-du-Château". WT/BFA/99 
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   The first of these, "Grand Morillon", belongs to  the International Labour Organization (ILO).  
It would appear difficult to purchase this land with in a reasonable period of time, given the ILO's 
internal procedures and the reluctance of many of its  Member States even to consider the principle of 
such a sale.  The project would cost an estim ated 255 million Swiss francs excluding the purchase of 
the land, valued at around 40 million Swiss francs. 
 
 The second option, "Champ-du-Château", seems feasible within a more reasonable period of 
time.  The land is currently in private hands.  Ho wever, it is an agricultural area outside the 
international organizations district.  The constr uction of a new building for the WTO at "Champ-du-
Château" would probably be even more expensive than  building it at "Grand Morillon".  The costs are 
currently estimated at around 275 million Swiss francs, plus the cost of the land (around 
40 million francs).   Both of these options, "Grand Morillon" and "Champ-du-Château", are therefore fraught with 
difficulties, particularly the long construction time, un certainty as to the availability of the land, and – 
above all – the costs.  Indeed, the estimated co sts of these two options range from 255 to 275 million 
Swiss francs, while extending the CWR at its current  lakeside location – an option which I shall now 
discuss in greater detail – would cost an estimated 150 million francs.   Given this clearly favourable comparison, th e "CWR" option has gradually emerged over the 
past few months of discussions as the most promisi ng, the quickest, and the least expensive solution. 
 
 Thus, when the issue of the future building for the WTO was submitted to the Swiss Federal 
Council on 4 July 2007, the Council logically opte d for densification of the CWR site in the 
negotiating mandate it gave its representatives for the next stage in the process of identifying the best 
possible response to the WTO's building requirements. 
 
 The proposal that the WTO should remain by the lakeside in the prestigious surroundings it currently enjoys, surroundings which I hope are also  appreciated by the representatives of the Member 
States, takes account of the wishes expressed by the WTO management.  The proposed long-term 
solution is to build an extension on the CWR site, pending which office space would be rented in the 
Chemin des Mines. 
 
 The CWR extension project will involve both renovation and densification of the current 
headquarters, i.e. extension within the existing st ructure with renovation of the entire building, and 
extension outside the existing structur e spilling over onto an adjacent plot. 
 
 Within the CWR, numerous additional workspace s will be created thanks to a substantial 
restructuring of the former HEI library premises, th e construction of an extra wing, and other projects 
which remain to be finalized.   In addition to this densification of the CWR,  an extension outside the current structure is 
planned in order to meet the WTO's need for o ffice space and meeting rooms beyond the new capacity 
resulting from the extension within the building.  Th is could be achieved, for example, on the site 
currently occupied by the Montessori school and the lakeside nursery school.  The Montessori school 
buildings will be empty from this summer, and the nu rsery school is expected to vacate its premises in 
2010.  
 As indicated above, according to current estimates a project of this kind, including renovation 
and extension of the CWR within and outside the current structure, would cost around 150 million 
Swiss francs.  The funding details will of course be among the issues covered during the forthcoming 
negotiations between Switzerland and the WTO.   WT/BFA/99 
 Page 7 
 
 
   But even if the "CWR" project is given top priori ty, a project of that size is not something that 
can be completed overnight.  So there will have to  be an interim solution that meets the immediate 
needs of the WTO for office sp ace while the new permanent headquarters are being built. 
  Accordingly, Switzerland and the WTO Secretar iat have been working closely together on 
various interim options in addition to the HEI libra ry premises, which will in any case be vacated this 
summer.  The three options that are regarded as mo st realistic are:  firstly, extending the lease on the 
offices in rue Rothschild;  secondly, constructing th e building on Avenue de France as was planned 
until recently;  and thirdly, renti ng offices in the Chemin des Mines. 
 
 Regarding the temporary annexe in rue Rothschild , this building is currently occupied by over 
100 staff and it appears that space is already lackin g.  So use of the Rothschild annexe alone would 
not appear to be a viable solution for the Organization in the short or medium term. 
  Regarding the "Avenue de France" proposal, the General Council has not thus far reviewed its 
decisions of 2001 and 2005 on the implementation of  this project via a FIPOI loan.  As you know, 
however, we have had to suspend our parliamentary procedure for the granting of the loan since the 
"Avenue de France" solution does not seem to meet  current wishes, particularly because it has the 
disadvantage of requiring the WTO to purchase a building which it will end up not needing if a single site is constructed.  
 This brings us to the third interim option:  the Chemin des Mines.  It would involve renting 
office space in the former SERONO headquarters on the Chemin des Min es, very close to the CWR.  
This solution would not only allow WTO staff curren tly working at rue Rothschild to move to these 
premises, but would also create the additional work ing space that is currently needed, and provide 
offices for staff to use while the CWR is being renovated and densified.  Switzerland therefore 
recommends this option, and accordingly proposes that  office space be rented for the WTO at the 
Chemin des Mines during the interim phase, i.e. un til the expansion work on the CWR is complete. 
  From a procedural point of view, the fact that the Swiss Federal Council has adopted a 
negotiating mandate on the CWR site extension togeth er with rental of office space on Chemin des 
Mines has allowed considerable progress to be ma de on this important matter.  Switzerland is 
convinced that it will be possible to find a mutually satisfactory solution, and it will spare no efforts to 
that end.   However, Switzerland cannot act alone.  It need s the WTO to move forward in the process of 
identifying clear preferences as to the overall solution.   More specifically, it is crucial that the WTO 
notify the Swiss authorities as rapidly as possible regarding the General Council's decision on what 
should be done about the "Avenue de France" project.  It is important for us to be able to work on a 
clearly defined basis so that we can focus all of our  energy on what seems to be the best solution for 
the future of the WTO, namely the CWR site extensi on as I have just described it.  The fact that the 
"Avenue de France" project is still pending, ev en though it no longer app ears to meet current 
requirements, is a barrier to optimum management of the WTO's building needs.  If Member States do 
not wish to pursue this project, it is important for the General Council, at its next meeting in July, to 
formally record that the project has been abandoned.   Let me conclude my statement by reiterating the importance that Switzerland attaches to its 
role as host country to the WTO and thanking the Director-General, his Secr etariat and the members 
of the Organization for their valuable trust and support. 
  
__________