John Weekes

Bennett Jones LLP

John Weekes is senior international trade policy adviser at Bennett Jones LLP with a long experience in trade diplomacy and trade policy. He was Canada's Ambassador to the WTO from 1995 to 1999, and Chair of the WTO General Council in 1998. He was instrumental in the creation of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements and served as its chair from its inception in 1996 until he became Chair of the General Council. Prior to that, he was Canada's Chief Negotiator for NAFTA (1993 to 1995), and Canada's Ambassador to the GATT during the last multilateral trade negotiations (Uruguay Round). He was a member of Canada's negotiating team to the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations in the 1970s. He is on the Board of the Washington-based Cordell Hull Institute, and Chaired the Management Board of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law in Geneva.