WORLD TRADE WT/BFA/34
28November 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-5329)
Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration
ANNUAL REPORT (1997)
1. Inaccordance withtheprocedures foranannual overview ofWTO activities andforreporting
under theWTO, adopted bytheGeneral Council on15November 1995 (WT/GC/M/8, item11),a
report ontheactivities oftheWTO Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration in1997ishereby
submitted.
2. Itwillberecalled thattheCommittee metonanumber ofoccasions andhaspresented reports
totheGeneral Council onaregular basis.1Thisreport willthencover themajor areas theCommittee
hasdealtwithinthecourse oftheyeartodate.
I. ON-GOING RESPONSIBILITIES
3. TheCommittee monitored onaregular basis thefinancial andbudgetary situation ofthe
Organization, thereceipt ofcontributions including theimplementation oftherelated schemes and
measures pertaining toreceipt ofcontributions, andexamined theFinal Position ofthe1996 Budget
andtheDirector-General 'sFinancial Report onthe1996Accounts andReport oftheExternal Auditor.
ItalsodealtwiththeDirector-General 'sbudget proposals for1997 andthe1996 surplus.
II. MAJOR AREAS OFACTIVITIES
A. Review oftheApplication oftheHeadquarters Agreement
4. TheHeadquarters Agreement, signed withtheSwiss authorities in1995, foresaw anevaluation
oftheimplementation oftheagreement. Tothisend,aworking group, within theframework ofthe
Committee, headed bytheChairman andconsisting ofdelegates ofWTO Members aswellas
representatives fromtheSecretariat andtheStaffCouncil wasformed. Adocument compiling allthe
comments oftheMembers aswellasthose from theSecretariat onthemodality ofapplying the
Headquarters Agreement, wassubmitted totheSwiss authorities. Twomeetings were convened on
17Juneand17SeptembertoreviewtheimplementationoftheHeadquartersAgreement.Theconclusions
ofthediscussions wereforwarded totheCommittee which approved them.2Nofuture meeting was
scheduled; however, discussions could beheldshould theneedarise.
B. NewWTO Members
5. Inthecourse of1997, theCommittee formulated recommendations totheGeneral Council
onassessments tothebudget andadvances totheWorking Capital Fund upontheaccession totheWTO
ofthefollowing newMembers: (i)Congo, (ii)Democratic Republic oftheCongo, (iii)Mongolia,
(iv)Niger, and(v)Panama.
./.
1Reports: WT/BFA/30 covering themeeting of21February 1997; WT/BFA/31 covering themeeting
of21May 1997; WT/BFA/32 covering themeetings of23and29September, and7October 1997; and
WT/BFA/33 covering themeetings of21and27November 1997.
2Report WT/BFA/SPEC/12WT/BFA/34
Page2
C. UN/WTO Cooperation withregard totheInternational Trade Centre 's(ITC) Budgetary
Arrangements
6. Following thedecision oftheGeneral Council taken inApril 1995, theITCpresented its
1998 budget intheformat required bytheWTO budget preparation andreporting procedures. The
factthatITChadbeenrequested topresent itsbudget informats thatwould satisfy boththeWTO and
theUNbudgetary requirements entailed adualaccounting exercise which would inevitably leadto
additionalcosts.TheCommitteeconsideredthattheissueinvolvedcoordinationandcooperationbetween
international organizations, andthatMembers should inform theirdelegates tointervene inNewYork
inorder toidentify asolution. TheChairman, together withtheSecretariat should alsoengage in
anegotiation process withtheUNinorder toarrive atasatisfactory solution.
D. Measures infavour ofLeast Developed Countries
(a) Least Developed Countries inCategory IV
7. WithregardtotheeligibilityofLeastDevelopedCountriestotechnicalassistance,theCommittee
formulated arecommendation totheGeneral Council totheeffect thatWTO Members which areLeast
Developed Countries would beexempt from application oftheadministrative measure which states
that"Inactive Members would bedenied access totraining andtechnical assistance".
(b) High-Level Meeting ontheLeast Developed Countries
8. TheCommittee recommended totheGeneral Council thatinviewofthefactthatthemeeting
wastheresult ofaMinisterial Decision, therequirement fora13percentoverhead ontheTrust Fund
tofinance themeeting should bewaived.
(c) Further measures toavoid marginalization ofLeast Developed Countries
9. TheCommittee agreed thatmeasures toencourage theleastdeveloped countries toparticipate
moreintheactivities oftheWTO should beidentified. Inprinciple, thefinancing ofschemes tofacilitate
thepayment ofarrears intheframework oftheactivities oftheWTO through voluntary contributions
metwithagreement. Itwasnoted thattheleveloftheminimum contribution would bepartofthe
discussions in1998 inthecontext ofthereview ofthefunctioning ofthesystem regarding thebasis
fortheassessment ofcontributions tothebudget oftheWTO, asdecided bytheGeneral Council
(WT/GC/M/8).