Director-General of the World Trade Organization

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization holds the highest permanent office of the World Trade Organization, and is responsible for supervising the administrative functions of the organization. Because World Trade Organizations are made by member states (through either a Ministerial Conference or through the General Council), the Director-General has little power over matters of policy - the role is primarily a technical one.

The current Director-General is Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand.

Past Directors-General

This is a list of former holders of the office of director-general. The post was created in 1965, although the earlier office of Executive Secretary is often seen as a direct equivalent.

	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Country
1	Eric Wyndham White	23 March 1965	6 May 1968	United Kingdom
2	Olivier Long	6 May 1968	1 October 1980	Switzerland
3	Arthur Dunkel	1 October 1980	1 July 1993	Switzerland
4	Peter Sutherland	1 July 1993	1 May 1995	Ireland
5	Renato Ruggiero	1 May 1995	1 September 1999	Italy
6	Mike Moore	1 September 1999	1 September 2002	New Zealand
7	Supachai Panitchpakdi	1 September 2002	(present)	Thailand