Vesa Himanen to chair a top WTO body

Press release 21/2007
8 February 2007

Ambassador Vesa Himanen, Finland's Permanent Representative to Geneva, has been elected to chair the WTO Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). Himanen's election was confirmed in the WTO General Council's meeting on 7 February.

The TPRB is one of the main bodies of the highest WTO organ, the General Council, which convenes on a regular basis. The chairpersons of the General Council, the Dispute Settlement Body and the TPRB form a troika, which, as required, may also lead selection process for the appointment of a WTO Director-General.

Ambassador Himanen is currently Chairman of the Working Party on the Accession of Kazakhstan. He has earlier been in charge of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods (CTG). Himanen's one-year term as Chairperson of the TPRB will start in February.

The objectives of the work of the TPRB are to promote the application of trade agreements among the WTO members and to increase the transparency and understanding of countries’ trade policies and practices. The policy reviews also assess the impact of individual members' trade policies and practices on the functioning of the multilateral trading system. In 2007, the TPRB is scheduled to convene 18 times, and trade policy reviews will be conducted of, for example, the EU, Australia, Canada and India.

The World Trade Organization is a global and multilateral organization, which serves as a forum of negotiations related to the liberalisation of world trade. The WTO was established on 1 January 1995, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT. The WTO is an organization of 150 members. The present round of trade negotiations, called the Doha Development Agenda, was launched in 2001.

Further information: Ambassador Vesa Himanen, tel. +41 79 542 8423, and Minister-Counsellor Ilkka-Pekka Similä, tel. +41 79 758 1693, Permanent Mission of Finland to Geneva.