H.E. Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli and Ambassador Dr. Lansana Gberie

Sierra Leone

18 ELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON

443.   I just want to say a very few words on this agenda item. I would like to start by thanking you, HE Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli, for so ably steering the work of this Council over the past year, during a very difficult period in the life of the WTO. I thank you very much for your steady leadership and for being so very open and transparent during this process. I would also like to thank particularly Members for entrusting me with this role. I look forward to building on the work that you have done and that others have done before me. I look forward to working with all parties concerned. I listened through most of the presentations over the past day and a half and I understand that this is a particularly challenging moment, going forward to the MC12, but I hope that we will be able to make progress on some fronts, and we do not get bogged down to a particular issue. I thank you all and I thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility.

The Council so agreed.

101. The Chair turned to the last agenda item, namely "election of the Chairperson".
102. He noted that the rules of procedure provided that "[t]he election shall take place at the first meeting of the year and shall take effect at the end of the meeting", and that "[t]he Chairperson […] shall hold office until the end of the first meeting of the following year". While agenda items 12 and 13 remained open, the meeting was therefore not formally closed. Nevertheless, it would be appropriate that the new chair takes over the gavel and presides over subsequent resumptions of the meeting under these items.
103. At its meeting on 23-24 February 2022, the General Council had noted consensus on the Chairpersons for regular and negotiating WTO bodies. On the basis of the understanding reached by the General Council, he proposed that the Council for TRIPS elect H.E. Dr. Lansana GBERIE, Ambassador of Sierra Leone, as its chairperson for the coming year.
104. The Council so agreed.
105. The representatives of Sierra Leone; Chad,; Bangladesh; Switzerland; the European Union; and Tanzania took the floor.
106. The Chair thanked delegations for their trust and cooperation during his term as TRIPS Council Chair during the past year, and expressed his hope that they would also support the efforts of his successor in addressing the items on the Council's agenda. He wished delegations and the new Chair much success in that endeavour.
107. The meeting was adjourned, with items 12 and 13 remaining open.
108. At the reconvened meeting on 1 June 2022, the meeting was closed.

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IP/C/M/104/Add.1, IP/C/M/104/Rev.1, IP/C/M104