I thank all of
you not only for electing me to the Chair, but for your continued help and support
throughout the difficult terrain we have travelled together in the past year. My thanks
also go to all colleagues who served with me as chairpersons of the various bodies in the
WTO for their outstanding contributions to the multilateral trading system.Needless to say it
would be impossible for me to discharge my functions as Chairman of the General Council
without the dedicated support of the Secretariat, and I therefore wish to express my
sincere gratitude to all members of the Secretariat and especially those with whom I
worked more directly and closely.
In this
regard I want first to sincerely thank Mr. David Hartridge who, as Director in Charge in
the absence of a Director General, provided exemplary leadership to the Secretariat during
the interegnum and was particularly helpful to me for his sincerity, objectivity,
dedication and loyalty to the institution of Chairman of the General Council during the
greater part of my Chairmanship when we had to run the WTO without a Director General and
indeed when we had to devote all our energies to search for a new Director General.
I want also
to thank Mr. Barthel-Rosa for his expertise and energy in ensuring that the Chairman says
and does the right thing in managing the General Council and I also thank Mr. Evan
Rogerson for his invaluable support during the preparatory process for the Seattle
Ministerial Conference and beyond.
My gratitude
to the Secretariat would not be complete without thanking the former Director General, Mr.
Renato Ruggiero who was responsible for establishing such an efficient Secretariat and
with whom I had the most cordial relationship as Chairman of the General Council.
I also wish
to pay special tribute to our new Director General, Mike Moore who although he has been on
the job for only the last few months of my Chairmanship, he has tremendously energised the
Secretariat and has been such a good friend and a most agreeable person to work with. As I
vacate the Chair, I urge him to continue the good work he has so ably started and I want
to wish him all the best in the challenging tasks ahead of him.
I have been
honoured to be Chairman of the General Council following eminent colleagues whose example
in performance and conduct in office have been very inspiring. Although I have known all
the past four WTO General Council Chairmen, two were particularly helpful to me: my
immediate predecessor Ambassador John Weekes of Canada and Ambassador William Rossier of
Switzerland.
I want to
sincerely thank Ambassador Weekes who provided me with useful advice upon receiving the
gavel from him and for all the time he was with us before assuming other responsibilities
outside the WTO. Ambassador William Rossier deserves special gratitude, for, being the
only past Chairman around, he has remained a ready reservoir of wisdom and institutional
memory for the office of Chairman of General Council, and more specifically Ambassador
Rossier has been particularly helpful to me during the earlier part of my Chairmanship
when we were searching for a new Director General. I want on this occasion to publicly
repeat my thanks to you William for your friendship, dedication to duty and to the
multilateral trading system and for your ever readiness to provide useful advice and
support whenever I needed it.
The
DG selection Back to
top
The year 1999
was historic not only because it was the end of a millennium and the dawn of another, but
historic for the WTO because of the unusual coincidence of major tasks that had to be
addressed in the same year — the appointment of a new Director General and
preparation for the launching of new negotiations for an improved multilateral trading
system.
These two
tasks and other related matters preoccupied us most during my term as Chairman and indeed
the coincidence of these tasks could characterize my Chairmanship as one of the most, if
not the most, difficult in the history of our organisation. To me being
Chairman of the General Council at this time has provided me with the most instructive
learning experience on a broad range of matters, an experience which I would not be able
to get anywhere, even in the best Universities around the globe.
The long
drawn out contest for a Director General has happily resulted in getting two excellent
personalities who will occupy the post one after another and in this way the General
Council which I chaired has had the unusual privilege of influencing the leadership of the
Secretariat for another six years!! The preparations for the Third Ministerial Conference
were equally arduous and the fact that we did not agree on a draft Ministerial Declaration
here in Geneva contributing significantly to the failure to agree at Seattle underscores
the crucial role that the General Council has in ensuring the success of any Ministerial
Conference.
From the
process of appointing a new Director General and from the experience of preparing for the
Third Ministerial Conference and what subsequently happened at Seattle, important lessons
can be drawn out and these lessons have to constitute an important agenda on the future of
our Organisation and how it transacts its functions and business. Indeed we have already
concluded that the system of appointing the Director General is archaic and unsatisfactory
and that a new method must be instituted by September 2000. This is an important matter
and I believe that my successor will lead us through the necessary consultations to a more
acceptable and transparent system of appointing a Director General as well as a more
balanced system of appointing Deputy Directors-General. On the broader concern of how best
to manage the world trading system in the light of the present configuration of its
membership reflecting various levels of development and a wide geographical variation,
Seattle has provided a wake up call for all of us to reflect and re-examine how we need to
evolve a more inclusive and participatory system of decision making even when consensus
remains the basic principle of decision making. Indeed, the institutional reforms that
need to be made to the multilateral trading system is one of the major concerns that will
be addressed in the consultations that we have agreed to undertake in the immediate
future.
The
lessons of Seattle Back
to top
Without
prejudging the details of those consultations aimed at improving the management and
operation of the world trading system, let me take the liberty to highlight what I
consider to be among the most crucial elements to be taken into account. Firstly, in the
forthcoming consultations we need to reflect more carefully how to ensure that the
principle of consensus which remains non-negotiable, continues to be an asset rather than
a liability in ensuring efficient and fair decision making. It has to be recognised that
while consensus is the best device to ensure the balance of interests of all members since
it is a guarantee against the so-called “tyranny of the majority” and “the
bullying by the powerful”, we need to devise rules or provide creative interpretation
of the existing rules so that, the WTO does not suffer from the image of being an
organisation incapable of making decisions. I am far from suggesting that we should
discard the principle of consensus in decision making since, like democracy, consensus is
the least unsatisfactory method of ensuring balanced interests of all. What I am
suggesting is that while we uphold the principle of consensus in decision making, let us
think of how we can strike a balance between fairness and efficiency in our decision
making so that consensus is not an excuse for indecisiveness or perpetuation of the vested
interests of the few.
Secondly, and
related to the first concern raised above, we need to address the perennial problem of how
to ensure in the decision making process of the WTO the right balance between
transparency, democracy, inclusiveness and representativity among the entire membership of
the organisation on the one hand and efficiency in reaching an agreement on
the other. Indeed this question came up very frequently as we were preparing for Seattle
and it came out again more forcefully at the end of the Seattle Ministerial Conference.
Clearly, as confirmed by the concluding remarks of the Chairperson of the Seattle
Ministerial Conference, the traditional “green rooms” seem to be unsatisfactory,
and the question now is what version of representativity is acceptable, whether a system
of “core group — open ended consultations” is feasible or perhaps a blend
of such open ended consultations and an improved and a “representative green
room” could do the trick. There is no easy answer to this problem but certainly it is
an issue that needs our immediate attention if we are to restore the credibility to our
Organisation.
Thirdly,
whatever institutional reforms are made in the WTO, the basic premise of the Organisation
as a member-driven organisation must be preserved and in practical terms the primacy of
the General Council as a body representing all members must be recognised vis-à-vis the
Secretariat which is supposed to service the Membership, and by the same token the
institutional role the Chairman of the General Council must be respected without
compromising or minimising the role of the Director General as head of the Secretariat.
LDCs and Africa Back to top
Let me make
my final observation, and this is on the notion of making developing countries and
especially LDCs (least-developed countries) and Africa feel a true sense of belonging to
the World Trade Organisation and here I think I can be excused if I now speak as an
African coming from a least developed country. On this I can only repeat what I said on 16
February 1998 when I was assuming the Chairmanship, and this is what I said, if I may
quote myself:
“Indeed,
by this act (i.e. of electing me as Chairman of the General Council) you are sending the
correct signals to the international trading community and to those interested in the
multilateral trading system that this Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, belongs
to all of us, the largest and the smallest Members, the most developed countries and the
least developed countries … Certainly, the equality of ownership of the WTO must of
necessity be manifested in the equality of participation in the affairs of the
Organization, including taking up leadership positions in its various bodies. Of course
what remains yet to be achieved is the more meaningful equality and inclusiveness whereby
all countries will equally benefit from the multilateral trading system and … that
must remain our main objective as we strengthen and perfect the multilateral trading
system as we enter the next millennium we are about to start”.
I said this a
year ago before the new millennium had started and this concern I expressed then, remains
as valid today as it was twelve months ago. What this means is that the sense of belonging
and involvement that is necessary to stem the tide of further marginalization of Africa
and LDCs can only be meaningful and genuine if the developed countries put their resources
where their mouths are, as they are clearly committed to do, and if this involvement for
the LDCs and Africa can go beyond mere tokenism.
Among other
things, this requires a fundamental cultural and perceptive change in the mindset of all
concerned including members of the Secretariat so that a more positive and sympathetic
orientation towards LDCs and Africa can be engendered. It is for this reason that it is
important that technical assistance be given more generously and the Special and
differential treatment provisions in favour of developing and least developed countries in
the Uruguay Round Agreements be fully operationalized in the letter and spirit, and that
is why it is important also that the decisions of the High Level Meeting on the Integrated
Framework for LDCs be implemented. The efforts to transform the Secretariat so that it
reflects the composition of the WTO’s membership is commendable and Director General
Mike Moore is to be congratulated and commended for appointing the first Deputy Director
General from Africa and from an LDC, but we expect this appointment to be the beginning of
a more serious effort to make the contribution and role of Africa and LDCs in the WTO to
be more meaningful and again to go beyond mere tokenism. I am glad to note that during my
Chairmanship, Members have clearly shown their serious commitment to ensuring that the WTO
truly belongs to us all, LDCs and Africa included and I expect that spirit and commitment
to continue in future in greater earnest.
Finally ... Back to top
Finally, let
me end as I began, by thanking you all once again for giving me the opportunity to serve
you and serve our Organisation for the past one year and thank you for your support
throughout the difficult year. It was an honour for me personally, an honour for my
country Tanzania and an honour for my Continent. I can certainly look back with pride what
we, through the General Council, have been able to achieve together, such as the accession
to the WTO of three more countries (Estonia, Georgia and Jordan) and the commencement of
negotiations for accession of three new applicants, Bosnia and Herzegonia, Bhutan and
Lebanon; overseeing the implementation of the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, and
steps towards the promotion of the institutional image of the WTO these are among the
accomplishments of the past year.
At the same
time, I regret that there is a lot of work that we were not able to finish and which I
trust my successor will carry forward to completion. One such unfinished work is the
conclusion on the long standing question regarding observer status for international
organisations. I do hope that this issue will be finalised as soon as possible so that it
can enhance efforts to provide more transparency to our Organisation. Of course the
biggest disappointment is that we were not able to conclude the Third Ministerial
Conference at Seattle and so we were unable to launch the expected multilateral trade
negotiations at the beginning of this Millennium and during my Chairmanship as we had
expected. However, I do leave the Chair with the optimism that my successor will be able
to lead us to the day we shall see the launching of the new trade negotiations which would
happen sooner than later.
Before
leaving the podium therefore, let me congratulate the new Chairman, Ambassador Kare Bryn
whom we shall elect in a few moments to chair the General Council and let me also
congratulate all other new Chairpersons who will be elected to chair the various bodies. I
am particularly gratified that I shall be passing over the gravel to Ambassador Bryn of
Norway, a person who has distinguished himself in his previous diplomatic career and in
his contribution to the work of our organisation and coming from a country which is well
known in its commitment to assist developing and especially least developed countries in
the WTO.
Taking
account of the enormity and complexity of the work that lies ahead, there can be no better
person to guide us through than Ambassador Bryn who enjoys the undivided support of the
entire Membership of this Organisation, and who in his short tenure as Chairman of the DSB
has impressed us all with his expertise, dedication and sense of fairness and balance. I
wish to pledge my support to you Ambasador Bryn for the success of your tenure in office
and I appeal to all Members to give Ambassador Bryn the support he deserves to carry out
the mandate we are entrusting on him for this coming year at the beginning of a new
millennium.
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