(Ottawa) Bennett Jones is pleased to welcome John Weekes to the firm. Mr. Weekes joins the firm as a Senior Business Advisor in our Ottawa office.
Prior to joining Bennett Jones, Mr. Weekes was Senior International Trade Policy Adviser (2003-2009) at Sidley Austin LLP, based in the firm's Geneva office. From 1999 until 2003, he was Chair of the Global Trade Practice at APCO Worldwide, a Washington-based international public affairs and communications consultancy.
Over a period of 20 years Mr. Weekes served the Government of Canada in numerous senior positions in the field of foreign economic policy. He was Canada's Ambassador to the WTO from 1995 to 1999 and Chair of the WTO General Council in 1998. He served as Canada's Chief Negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including in respect of the side agreements on environmental and labour co-operation. He was Ambassador to GATT during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, Chair of the GATT Council in 1989 and Chair of the GATT Contracting Parties in 1990. In the 1970s he participated in the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations.
Mr. Weekes is an active member of the Board of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency. He is a Senior Adviser to the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center and serves on the Board of the Washington-based Cordell Hull Institute and the Management Board of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law in Geneva.
In recent years Mr. Weekes has participated in the WTO dispute settlement system as a panel chair and an arbitrator.
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