TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar10/01)
1 March 2010
Third World Network

General Council approves new slate of WTO chairpersons
Published in SUNS #6870 dated 24 February 2010

Geneva, 23 Feb (Kanaga Raja) -- The General Council on Monday noted the consensus on a slate of chairpersons for various WTO bodies reporting to the General Council, as well as negotiating bodies established under the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), which oversees the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

Ambassador John Gero of Canada will chair the General Council this year. He replaces Ambassador Mario Matus of Chile.

The Dispute Settlement Body is now chaired by Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah of Nigeria, while the Trade Policy Review Body is chaired by Ambassador Bozkurt Aran of Turkey.

The Council for Trade in Goods is chaired by Ambassador Anthony Maruping of Lesotho. The Council for Trade in Services is chaired by Ambassador Elin Johansen of Norway.

The Council for TRIPS is chaired by Mr Martin Glass of Hong Kong-China.

The Committee on Trade and Development is chaired by Ambassador Erwidodo of Indonesia.

The Chairs of the other WTO bodies reporting to the General Council are as follows: Committee on Balance of Payments Restrictions - Mr Raimondas Alisauskas of Lithuania; Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration - Mr Pasi-Heikki Vaaranmaa of Finland; Committee on Trade and Environment - Ambassador Eduardo Munoz Gomez of Colombia; Committee on Regional Trade Agreements - Ambassador Alfredo Suescum of Panama; Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance - Ambassador Federico A Gonzalez of Paraguay; Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology - Ambassador Hisham Badr of Egypt.

The General Council also agreed to renew the appointments of the current Chairpersons of the negotiating bodies under the Trade Negotiations Committee.

The chairs of the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture, the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services, Negotiating Group on Market Access, Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body, Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development, and the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation remain unchanged.

There is a new chair of the Special Session of the TRIPS Council, Ambassador Darlington Mwape of Zambia.

The Special Session was temporarily chaired by Ambassador Karen Tan of Singapore, following the departure of previous chair Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados, who joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules, Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmes of Uruguay, has informed the General Council Chair that he will be leaving shortly back to his capital.

According to trade officials, the new Chair of the General Council will be undertaking consultations to find a replacement. +