Feb 11, 1987

CHAIRPERSONS FOR NEGOTIATING BODIES APPROVED.

GENEVA FEBRUARY 9 (IFDA) -- Agreement was reached in GATT on Monday on the names of individuals to chair each of the 14 negotiating groups on the subjects included on the agenda of the Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTNS) in goods, as also the chairman of the surveillance body for the implementation of the standstill and rollback commitments.

The approval at a meeting of the heads of delegations of the Uruguay round’s groups of negotiations on goods (GNG) Monday, opens the way for the start of the work of the various groups.

The individuals agreed upon Monday would be formally elected at the first meeting of each of the groups.

The chairmanships are to be reviewed at end of the year, when the initial phase of work of the negotiating groups are to be completed. This is reported to have been stated at the meeting of delegation heads by the chairman of the contracting parties, Pakistan’s Manzur Ahmad, who conducted the consultations.

According to the calendar of meeting already approved, the first of these meetings begin this week – with the group on tariffs and nn-tariff barriers due to gold their meetings Tuesday, and those on natural resource-based products and on textiles and clothing later this week.

All these four groups have the same individual as their chairman – Amb. Lindsay Duthie, Australian special trade representative to Europe.

The first meetings of other groups have been scheduled in the weeks ahead, with the last of them set for the week of April 6.

The surveillance body for standstill and rollback commitments is to be chaired by the GATT Deputy Director-General, Madan G. Mathur, and is due to hold its first meeting on February 23.

The chairmen of other groups are:

--Aart De Zeeuw, Dutch Director-General of Agriculture to chair group on Agriculture.

--Paul Leong Khee Seong of Malaysia to chair group on Tropical products, with Siaka Coulibaly of Cote D’Ivoire as Vice-Chairman.

--John M. Weekes, Director-General of Trade Policy of Canada to chair group on GATT articles.

--Chulsu Kim, South Korea’s Assistant Trade Minister, to chair group on MTN Agreements and Arrangements.

--Georges A. Maciel, Brazil’s Permanent Representative to U.N. in New York to chair group on Safeguards.

--Michael D. Cartland, Hong Kong’s Delegate to GATT, to chair group on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

--Lars Anell, Sweden’s Ambassador to U.N. in Geneva, to chair the group on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, including Trade in Counterfeit Goods.

--Tomohiko Kobayashi, Special Economic Advisor to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to chair group on Trade-related Investment Measures.

--Julio Lacarte-Muro, Uruguay’s GATT Delegate, to chair the group on Dispute Settlement.

--Julius L. Katz, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State to chair the group on Functioning of the GATT System.