Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures - Permanent Group of Experts - Note from the Chairperson

PERMANENT GROUP OF EXPERTS

NOTE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON

Pursuant to Article 24.3 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, experts serving on the Permanent Group of Experts ("PGE") "will be elected by the Committee and one of them will be replaced every year". At present, the members of the PGE are: Mr Donald Cameron Orth (Canada); Ms Vandee Suchatkulvit (Thailand); Mr Ahmed Al-Sulaiti (Qatar); and Ms. Soojung Cho (Korea); and Mr Kazumochi Kometani (Japan). As Mr Donald Cameron Orth's term expires next spring, the Committee should elect a new expert to replace him at its regular meeting scheduled for the week of 27 April 2026.

In light of the dates of the next WTO Ministerial Conference, which is scheduled to take place from 26 to 29 March 2026, and the intensive schedule that delegations are expected to face, my intention is to facilitate the completion of the election process as far as possible ahead of the Committee's regular meeting.

To facilitate this process, I wish to inform Members of the following procedures:

·_    Deadline for nominations

Nominations to fill this vacancy must be submitted by Friday, 16 January 2026, close of business (Geneva time). In the interest of transparency and fairness, this deadline will be strictly enforced. Any nomination received after the deadline will not be taken into consideration for this vacancy.

·_    Submission of CVs and Summary CVs

Each nomination must be accompanied by a full CV of the nominee. In order to streamline the assessment of nominations by Members, nominating Members should also complete and return the attached "Summary CV" of the nominee in addition to the full CV.

In line with Article 24.3, candidates must be independent persons who are highly qualified in the fields of subsidies and trade relations. In this regard, in their submissions, nominating Members are kindly invited to provide information only to the extent relevant to the duties and responsibilities of the PGE membership.

All nominations (including full CVs and Summary CVs) should be submitted to Mr Seref Gokay Coskun, Secretary of the Committee, at seref.coskun@wto.org.

The Secretariat promptly inform all delegations of the nominations received by the deadline, circulate the corresponding summary CVs, and make the full CVs available for consultation upon request.

·_    Schedule for consultations with the Chairperson

If needed, I will be available between 2 – 11 February 2026 for individual consultations with interested delegations. These dates may be subject to change depending on the meeting schedule of Members. I will confirm the exact dates in due course, along with specific information on how to request a consultation.

·_    Reporting of progress

 

If necessary, and well before the Committee meeting, I intend to convene an open-ended informal session to provide a general update on the progress and outcome of my consultations. The exact time and venue of this session will be communicated in due course.

_______________


SUMMARY CV OF THE CANDIDATE NOMINATED FOR THE PERMANENT GROUP OF EXPERTS

 

 

 

NOMINATING MEMBER:

 

 

 

PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Name, Last Name:

 

Email:

 

Phone:

 

 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

 

Areas of Expertise

 

 

Number of years of experience

Subsidies and trade relations

 

:

 

Subsidies and countervailing measures

 

:

 

Other [Please indicate]

:

 

 

 

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

Current position:

 

Other previous relevant positions:

 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

Date        [Name of the Institution] & [Title/degree received]

 

Date        [Name of the Institution] & [Title/degree received]

 

Date        [Name of the Institution] & [Title/degree received]

 

 

 

 

 

**PLEASE ATTACH THE FULL CV OF THE CANDIDATE AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT