Current WTO chairpersons
Officially, each council, committee or working party elects its own chairperson. However, to ensure a good distribution of appointments over all these bodies, informal consultations are held to produce consensus on slates of chairpersons in three groups: those directly involving the General Council (including, the bodies reporting to the Trade Negotiations Committee); those reporting to the Goods Council; and those reporting to the Services Council.
When the consultations are complete, the consensus slate is noted in the General Council, Goods Council or Services Council, and then each subsidiary council, committee or working party formally confirms the selection by electing its own chairperson by consensus. A number of Goods Council committees also elect their vice-chairpersons.
Almost all the chairs have one-year terms. The exceptions are: the Trade Negotiations Committee, chaired ex-officio by the WTO Director-General; and the chairs of negotiating groups under the Trade Negotiations Committee, which have terms that are set differently, so far from one Ministerial Conference to the next.
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Chairpersons of the General Council and bodies reporting to it
| Council | Chairperson |
|---|---|
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Chairpersons of bodies established under the Trade Negotiations Committee
| Council | Chairperson |
|---|---|
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Chairpersons of subsidiary bodies of the Council for Trade in Goods
| Council | Chairperson |
|---|---|
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Chairpersons of subsidiary bodies of the Council for Trade in Services
| Council | Chairperson |
|---|---|
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Chairpersons of Committees of Plurilateral Agreements
| Council | Chairperson |
|---|---|