WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC(99)/ST/1
8 March 1999
(99-0908)
General Council
15 and 16 February 1999Original:  English
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. JOHN M. WEEKES
CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
First of all I would like to thank the Member s represented in the General Council for giving
me the opportunity to serve you during the past year.  It has definitely been an experience which, for
the most part, I have enjoyed, and I am sure that when I look back on it I will do so with fondness and
with a sense of achievement.  I would also like  to thank all of you for your help and support
throughout the year, without which the job would be impossible.   I would also like to thank all of the
Chairpersons of the various bodies in the WTO for their work and dedication during the past year.  Imean to include not only those which report directly to the General Council, but all of the 36 standing
bodies and over 30 accession working parties in this organization.  I would very much like to thank
the Director-General.  His dedicated and effec tive commitment to the WTO in carrying its work
forward has certainly made my job much easier.  It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with
Renato Ruggiero and, if I do say so, I think we ma de a pretty good team.  The Organization always
needs an effective partnership between the Director-General and the Chairperson of the General
Council.  I think we have achieved such a partnership.  I would like to thank as well other members of
the Secretariat, in particular, Mr. Barthel-Rosa a nd his division and more recently Mr. Evan Rogerson
and his division for the excellent support which they have always given me.  These are really the
people who should get the credit for making the Chairman look good.
I would also like to thank my predecessors.  Being Chairman, as my successor will learn, is
sometimes a rather lonely task.  Those who have sh ared the experience previously can often provide
very useful information and support.  I very much  enjoyed working with the first Chairman of the
General Council of this Organization, Ambassador Kesavapany.  But I would like to thank very much
Ambassador William Rossier and Ambassador Celso Lafer for the help and support which they have
given me.  Both the direct support which they have given to me, and also the example which theyhave set by their conduct in the office, have greatly assisted me.
I consider that we, the Members of the Organization, can be proud of what we have done in
the past year, but it is clear that we face even bigger challenges in the year ahead.  In the past year, we
have had a very successful Ministerial Conference in May.  The Geneva Declaration established thebasis for the preparations for the Third Ministerial Conference.  We have carried forward those
preparations in the Special Session of the General Council in September, which itself launched a
series of intersessional meetings in which we have been able to have a detailed and effective exchange
of views on how to approach preparations for the Third Ministerial Conference.  Also at the
Ministerial Conference in May we adopted a Declaration on Electronic Commerce showing, onceagain, that the WTO can move with the times.  Of great significance in May was the commemoration
of the 50th Anniversary of the Multilateral Trading System with the participation of Heads of State
and Government from many Member countries.  This event underlined the growing importance of
trade and the World Trade Organization for the world community.  Of course, it was your
Director-General's tireless efforts which made this event such a success.WT/GC(99)/ST/1
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I would also note that finally this year we have been able to establish an independent
Secretariat for the WTO.  You already have, of course, a first class Secretariat.  The task for the
Members now is to work with the Director-General to ensure that the WTO is equipped with the best
possible Secretariat for the challenges which lie ahead in the new century.  This matter should be high
on your agenda.
Let me talk about some of the priorities that I would suggest you might work on during the
following year.
                The first and most urgent is the appointment of the next Director-General.  I don't think I
should say more than just that.  I leave office with a certain sense of disappointment that we have not
been able to complete this task before now.  It is  absolutely clear that it is now the most urgent task
before the Organization.
         Of enormous significance are the preparations for the Seattle Ministerial Conference, and the
new negotiations that it will initiate.  This will be the matter which will, no doubt, dominate the
activities on the agenda of this Organization over the coming months.
On a more personal basis, having spent almost four years now working in the WTO, and as a
Chairperson for three of those years, I think perhaps it is time, on the eve of new negotiations, that we
quietly reflect on the structure of the WTO.  It mu st of course be a member-driven Organization.  But,
as I mentioned earlier in my statement, we now have 36 standing bodies and over 30 accession
working parties.  This puts a tremendous burden on the Members, and on occasion I wonder whether
we do not lack somewhat in coherence.  I think this is one of the reasons why quite often in the
General Council, Heads of Delegation call for the General Council to take a clearer and stronger role
in directing the activities of this Organization.  I do not have any specific suggestions to make, but I
think this is a matter on which there should be some reflection over the coming months, to seewhether we can not come up with some ideas on how to further strengthen our Organization.
                 I would also like to urge you, as a high priority, to consider, with your new
Director-General, establishing the most effective pos sible partnership with him, and ensuring that he
is fully engaged in the work of preparing for the Ministerial Conference and the new negotiations.
I have three other matters on which I would like to offer a few personal observations.  One
concerns, in fact, the last item that we were discussing under "Other Business" regarding observers
from intergovernmental organizations.  I regret that I was not able to carry consultations on this matter
further forward.  I do hope that we will be able to find a solution, because I think it would be a
constructive development if representatives of many of these organizations were able to participate
more effectively in the work of the WTO, not least,  with a view to assisting their members in dealing
with WTO matters.
Another point on which I would like to offer a comment concerns the budgetary process of
the Organization and the growing tendency to look at ad hoc funding for various projects.  We have
heard some references to this in the course of toda y.  The best example of this problem is in the area
of technical assistance, including funding for delegations that come to various meetings and symposia.
We are in danger of turning the Secretariat into a kind of fund-raising organization rather than dealing
with its primary business.  If these activities are important, and I believe that the membership
considers that they are important, then we should move to provide further funding on a regular basis
through the normal budget process.  I must say, as  a Head of Delegation, that I find myself spending
an inordinate amount of time talking with people in my capital about raising money for various things
when it would be a much more straightforward process if it was part of our regular budgetary
contribution.  If it is important that the institution do it, then we should fund it as a regular budget
item.WT/GC(99)/ST/1
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The last personal observation I would like to make is about consensus, on which we have also
heard some discussion recently.  I must say when I try to explain to people outside of this
Organization how the consensus process works, and that  it actually does work in the WTO, I am often
met initially with a certain amount of incredulity.  It does not appear immediately, intuitively, that 134countries would be able to reach decisions on the basis of consensus.  I think of the consensus
principle a little bit like Winston Churchill's reference to democracy when he said that it was the least
unsatisfactory form of government.  Consensus is the bedrock of this Organization.  Think about what
this Organization is about in terms of providing a forum for the exchanging and binding of
concessions, and ensuring the predictability of the conditions of trade.  In such an Organization, how
else would we be able to get democratically elected legislatures to agree to the commitments that are
negotiated here if it was not done on the basis of consensus?  I would suggest to you that theconsensus principle will be equally critical to the future vitality and viability of this Organization in
the years ahead.
In concluding, I would like to congratulate all of the new Chairpersons, the one who will be
elected in a few moments, and all of those whom I mentioned in my consensus statement of a fewminutes ago.  I particularly want to extend to Ambassador Mchumo our best wishes for the year
ahead.  I am sure that he will have all of our support in carrying out the difficult responsibilities which
he will carry.  He comes to the job with a distinguished record of service in the WTO, elsewhere in
Geneva and also in the service of the Government of Tanzania.  Among many important
responsibilities, he served as Minister of Trade, a most useful experience as we prepare for the ThirdMinisterial Conference.  So, I offer all of our best wishes for success to the new Chairman,
Ambassador Mchumo, and to the other Chairpersons  who will be working with him in the months
ahead.
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