|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jan23/05) Geneva, 30 Jan (D. Ravi Kanth) — Members of the World Trade Organization on 27 January approved the appointments of Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland and Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Turkiye as the new chairs of the Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR) and of the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session (CoASS), respectively. The appointment of the Icelandic trade envoy to head the Doha Rules negotiating body came after India gave its approval to the “Troika” comprising the WTO General Council (GC) chair Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland, the chair of the Dispute Settlement Body Ambassador Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme of Botswana, and former GC chair Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, as well as the WTO Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said a source, who preferred not to be identified. Earlier, India strongly supported Sri Lanka’s trade envoy Ambassador Gothami Silva but several Northern countries blocked her appointment. Following the completion of her tenure in December 2022, Ambassador Silva returned back to Colombo. According to a WTO statement, Ambassador Gunnarsson will chair the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations, following the historic Agreement adopted at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022, and Ambassador Acarsoy will steer the process to build momentum on the agriculture negotiations. In back-to-back meetings of the NGR and CoASS, members gave the formal “green light” to the appointments following the consultation process led by the Chair of the General Council, Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland, to fill two posts that had been vacant over the past few months. Ambassador Gunnarsson takes over from Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, who during his three years as NGR Chair played a key role in leading the fisheries negotiations to a successful outcome at MC12 with the adoption of the new WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. +
|
||
