WORLD TRADE WT/BFA/30
15April 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1595)
Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration
REPORT OFTHE MEETING HELD ON21FEBRUARY 1997
Introduction
1. TheWTO Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration meton21February 1997under
thechairmanship ofMr.J.Yokota ofJapan andAmbassador K.Morjane ofTunisia, andadopted the
Agenda contained indocument WTO/AIR/524. Theterms ofreference andcomposition ofthe
Committee aresetoutindocument WT/L/44/Rev.1.
I. ELECTION OFCHAIRPERSON
2. TheChairman, Mr.J.Yokota ,opened thefirstmeeting oftheCommittee in1997andinformed
theCommittee thattheChairman oftheGeneral Council hadcarried outinformal consultations on
aslateofnames fortheappointment ofchairpersons tothedifferent WTO standing bodies inaccordance
withtheestablished guidelines forappointment ofsuchofficers. Onthebasis oftheunderstanding
reached, Mr.Yokota proposed thattheCommittee onBudget, Finance andAdministration formally
electH.E.Ambassador Morjane aschairman byacclamation. TheCommittee soagreed. Mr.Yokota
thencongratulated Ambassador Morjane andthanked theMembers oftheCommittee fortheir
cooperation, andtheSecretariat fortheirassistance. Headded that,asChairman oftheCommittee
in1996, hehadtriedtoengage inconfidence building between theSecretariat andtheMembers. He
thenhanded overthechairmanship toAmbassador Morjane.
3. Ambassador Morjane tookoverthechairmanship andthanked Mr.Yokota forhiskindwords
andtheCommittee fortheirconfidence. Helooked forward toworking withtheMembers ofthe
Committee in1997 toachieve progress onthedifferent issues tobeexamined.
4. Members oftheCommittee expressed theirgratitude toMr.Yokota forhischairmanship of
theCommittee in1996 andcongratulated Ambassador Morjane onhisnomination.
II. PROPOSED SCHEDULE OFMEETINGS FOR 1997 (CRP(97)04)
5. TheChairman presented aproposed schedule ofmeetings oftheBudget Committee in1997.
Itincluded examination of:(i)theFinalPosition ofthe1996Budget; (ii)theInternational Trade Centre
(UNCTAD/WTO)AuditedFinancialStatementsfortheBiennium1994-1995;(iii)theDirector-General's
Financial Report onthe1996 Accounts oftheWTO andReport oftheExternal Auditor Thereon;
and(iv)theBudget Estimates for1998. TheSecretariat assured theMembers oftheCommittee that
theInternational Trade Centre 'sbudget would beexamined bytheCommittee priortoitspresentation
totheUnited Nations inNewYork.
6. TheCommittee adopted theproposed schedule ofmeetings for1997, noting thatif,inthecourse
oftheyear, more meetings arerequired, oradditional issues necessitate discussions orreview, they
would beadded totheproposed schedule.WT/BFA/30
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III. ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES AND PROGRESS REPORTS
A. Cashsituation andstatement ofoutstanding contributions asat31January 1997 (CRP(97)01,
WT/BFA/SPEC/4/Rev.1 andWT/BFA/W/14)
B. Instalment payments forcountries inarrears (contributions from 1987 andearlier years)
-Progress report asat31January 1997 (CRP(97)02)
C. Contributions ofobserver countries towards thecostofservices provided bytheSecretariat
-Progress report asat31January 1997 (CRP(97)03)
7. TheSecretariat presented thereports onthecashsituation andstatement ofoutstanding
contributions asat31January 1997, theinstalments payments forcountries inarrears, andthe
contributions ofObserver countries towards thecostofdocumentation services provided bythe
Secretariat. Thetotalcontributions received amounted toSwF25,918,130, andtheWorking Capital
Fund stood atSwF7,129,854. Morocco made inFebruary 1997 apayment ofSwF354,342 for
theMarrakesh Ministerial Conference. TwonewTrust Funds were pledged asof31January 1997
from: (i)theNetherlands; and(ii)Japan. Asof31January 1997, there werethree WTO Members
withoutstanding contributions assessed above theminimum in1988. Twooutofthethree WTO
Members, namely Cuba andRomania, wereonschedule intheirpayments. Several members ofthe
Committee insisted thatObservers mustdischarge theirfinancial obligations asObservers totheWTO
beforetheiraccessionaccordingtotheGeneralCouncildecision(PC/8,L/7579).TheSecretariatassured
theCommittee thattheresponsible Division hadbeenrequested todrawtheattention oftherespective
Working Parties totheissueandletters reminding theObserver countries ofthenecessity todischarge
theirfinancial obligations were senttothelatter asinthepast. Inreply toquestions ontheuseof
Trust Funds 'balances, theSecretariat assured that,ineachinstance, theuseoffinalbalances was
discussed withtherespective donor i.e.either transferring theamount toanother project orreturning
ittothedonor.
8. TheCommittee tooknoteoftheadministrative reports. Withregard totheInactive Members
(WT/BFA/W/14) andinaccordance withparagraph 7(b)ofdocument PC/7, L/7578, theCommittee
recommends totheGeneral Council thatthefollowing Members classified inCategory IVof
Administrative Measures (Inactive Members) beurged toliquidate theirarrears:1
Angola Guinea-Bissau
Antigua andBarbuda Malawi
Burundi Mauritania
Cameroon Nicaragua
Central African Republic Niger
Chad Rwanda
Djibouti Sierra Leone
Gabon Solomon Islands
Gambia Togo
Ghana Zaire
Guinea
Members oftheCommittee feltthatitwasalsoimportant tokeepinmind theparticular situation of
theleastdeveloped countries which needs tobeaddressed.
1Subsequent tothemeeting oftheCommittee, Haiti made apayment which removed itfrom Category IV.WT/BFA/30
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IV. ACCESSION OFNIGER (WT/BFA/W/13)
9. Members expressed concern withregard toaccessions totheWTO offormer contracting parties
witharrears. Itwasfeltthattheefforts should bemade tofindfurther ways toaddress theissue and
encourage Members witharrears todischarge theirfinancial contributions without being punitive. Upon
suggestion fromaMember, theCommittee agreed thattheChairman oftheBudget Committee should
contact theChairmen oftheGeneral Council, theCommittee onTrade andDevelopment andtheSub-
Committee onLeast Developed Countries, andtheDirector-General inorder todiscuss waysandmeans
toresolve theissue oftheleastdeveloped countries 'arrears.
10. Consequent totheaccession totheWTO oftheGovernment ofNiger on13December 1996
(document WT/BFA/W/13), theCommittee recommends thataproratacontribution tothe1996budget
amounting toSwF1,676 beassessed onthisGovernment. Thisassessment, calculated asfrom
13December 1996, isbased onanannual contribution of0.03percent, taking intoaccount the
international trade figures (imports plusexports ingoods, services andintellectual property rights)
ofNiger fortheyears 1991 -1993. With regard toNiger 'scontribution tothe1997 budget, the
Committee recommends thatacontribution ofSwF34,260 beassessed onthisGovernment. This
assessment isbased onanannual contribution of0.03percent, taking intoaccount theinternational
trade figures (imports plusexports ingoods, services andintellectual property rights) ofNiger for
theyears 1992 -1994. Furthermore, onthebasis ofthelevel oftheWorking Capital Fund of
SwF6,971,788 on13December 1996, theCommittee recommends totheGeneral Council toassess
anamount ofSwF34,859 ontheGovernment ofNiger asanadvance totheFund.
V. OTHER BUSINESS
11. Therepresentative oftheNetherlands informed theCommittee onthetrustfundthathis
Government pledged attheSingapore Ministerial Conference towards technical cooperation activities
tobecarried outbytheWTO infavour ofdeveloping countries, including leastdeveloped countries,
economies andcountries involved intheprocess ofaccession totheWTO. Thecontribution totalled
4million Dutch Guilders andwould beaimed attheimplementation bybeneficiary countries oftheir
rights andobligations intheWTO multilateral trading system. Headded thatthiscooperation should
enhance "thedevelopment and/or institutional capacity" ofthebeneficiaries.
12. Clarifying theOrganization 'srecruitment policy, theSecretariat informed theCommittee that
thispolicy wasbased ontheprinciples ofcompetence andmerit.
13. Inresponse totheenquiries onrecruitment policy, information onstaffmovements, andthe
status ofthejobclassification exercise, theSecretariat undertook toprovide: (i)thestandard costof
aDeputy Director-General withdirect support staff(seeAnnex I);and(ii)information onthe
geographical distribution ofstaff(tobeprovided later). Furthermore, theSecretariat stated that
approximately 50percentoftheProfessional category posts and90percentoftheGeneral Service
category posts hadbeenclassified. TheSecretariat would review theeffectiveness ofthecurrent
distribution channel forproviding information onstaffmovements todelegations.
14. Onemember requested information ontheexpenditures oftechnical cooperation activities for
theyear1995 -1996 andthebudget of1997. TheSecretariat tooknotethatawritten response was
required. (Theinformation isherewith provided inAnnex II.)WT/BFA/30
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15. OneMember expressed theneedtohaveapolicy statement identifying theobjectives anda
work programme fortheOrganization forthecoming year. Thebudget estimates would thenbealigned
tomeettheobjectives. Hesuggested thatthepresence oftheDirector-General andtherespective Deputy
Director-General forspecific issues might beuseful. Other Members supported theview. Another
Member recalled thattheterms ofreference oftheBudget Committee didnotinclude amanagerial
debate. TheChairman tooknoteoftheproposals andwould consult toidentify thebestforum for
suchdiscussions.
16. TheSecretariat informed theCommittee thattheHeadquarters Agreement signed withtheSwiss
authorities foresaw anevaluation oftheimplementation totakeplace 18months afterthesignature
oftheagreement. Contacts were made withtheSwiss authorities. Ameeting would beorganized
between theSwiss authorities, theChairman oftheBudget Committee andrepresentatives from the
Secretariat todetermine themodalities ofthereview. TheSecretariat stated thattheCommittee would
beregularly keptinformed onthediscussions. OneMember indicated thatMembers should beinvolved
inthisreview given thefactthattheHeadquarters Agreement wasnegotiated between Contracting
Parties/Members andtheSwiss Authorities andthatthisAgreement istobereviewed in1997. The
CommitteewasalsoinformedthatduetonewtechnologyandanincreaseininterestintheWTOactivities
fromthemedia, achange inthepublication policy wasrequired. Aworking group withsome Members
oftheCommittee interested inthesubject might beestablished toexamine thepolicy ofpublication.
POINTS FOR DECISION: Paragraph 8
Paragraph 10WT/BFA/30
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ANNEX I
ANNUAL COST OFADEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL INCLUDING SUPPORT STAFF
SwF
Salary, common staffcosts andrepresentation allowance 300,000
Missions 20,000
Secretarial support staffstandard cost(2xSwF117,000) 234,000
Total 554,000WT/BFA/30
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ANNEX II
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES
Budget
SwFExpenditure
SwF
1995 Technical Co-operation Missions 644,000 254,746
Trade Policy Training Courses 1,256,000 1,005,277
Trust fundexpenditure 944,224
1996 Technical Cooperation Missions 741,000 744,434
Trade Policy Training Courses 1,232,000 1,027,728
Trust fundexpenditure 380,243
1997 Technical Cooperation Missions 741,000 N/A
Trade Policy Training Courses 1,232,000 N/A
Trust fundexpenditure N/A N/A