The World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council appointed its new Chair, on Thursday 4 March. He is Honduran Dacio Castillo, who succeeds New Zealand’s David Walker. He was previously Chair of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body.
The General Council also expressed consensus on the list of all the chairpersons of WTO bodies for 2021. Their mandate is for one year. Switzerland’s Didier Chambovey has been appointed Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body.
In this list of names, one person from the EU: German Bettina Waldmann has been chosen to chair the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration.
The bodies will now have to formally elect their chairpersons at their next respective meetings.
See the list of chairpersons: https://bit.ly/3sT2iCK
Waiver of intellectual property rights
During this General Council, the subject of the TRIPS waiver for vaccines was also discussed.
According to a Geneva official, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala found that there was no consensus on the issue.
Discussions are therefore continuing in the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The EU and the United States did not comment on this issue at the meeting, according to the same source. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)