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Panitchpakdi’s speeches
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by the Director-General
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Mr.
Director-General let me welcome you and all of our good friends to
this brief informal meeting of the General Council. This is one of the
rare General Council meetings where I can confidently can announce a
complete consensus before even hearing any of my colleagues.
And
that is because it is a consensus to wish our new Director-General,
Dr. Supachai, a warm and hearty welcome as he begins his term. I know
that I speak for the entire membership, including our observers, in
wishing him every success in his challenging and most important task
ahead.
In
this regard, I would also, at the same time, like to ask for
colleagues understanding in using our very limited time this morning
to the best advantage. I know that all delegations would like to
intervene and warmly welcome Dr. Supachai. However, it would be my
plan that, besides the Director-General, I would recognize brief
statements from the delegation of Indonesia on behalf of ASEAN, and in
a wider sense developing countries; the delegation of Zambia on behalf
of least-developed countries, and finally the delegation of New
Zealand on behalf of developed countries. In this way, if you agree,
it will give our Director-General the opportunity to mingle with more
of you after the meeting outside where coffee and tea has been
generously arranged.
Mr.
Director-General, while it is still early days, I do hope that you
have the sense of just having joined a family. This is indeed a
close-knit community, united by the fact that we spend more time with
each other than we do with our real families, as well as by the fact
that we often talk about things that are absolutely incomprehensible
to anyone else.
Like
any family, from time to time, we do have our differences. In fact
these are what make the headlines, and no doubt they will require your
attention and good care.
But
also like a family, the things that unite us all are much more
numerous and much more important than our differences. Ultimately, we
are all united in our commitment to defending and promoting the WTO
system, and the need to ensure that it works for the benefit of all
its Members.
We
have all been impressed by the deep thought and careful preparation
that you have done before taking up your appointment. There is an old
saying that time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, and you
have therefore invested your time wisely. All of us will face a rather
challenging year ahead to the Cancún Ministerial, and beyond that to
the deadline for completing the negotiations that together we launched
in Doha. It adds greatly to our confidence to know that we have
someone of your experience with us as Director-General but also as
Chairman of the TNC. We will therefor be all relying on you, and you
in turn, can count on our support and our assistance in your tasks.
After all, we are all in this great adventure together.
Let
me now give you the opportunity to take the floor and speak to the
delegations for the first time in your capacity as our
Director-General. |
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