Patrick Reis-Ekelund
19, Bd. de Belleville
75011 Paris

Mr Guy Jannot
Head, Administrative and Financial Department
Office international des épizooties
12, rue de Prony, 75017 Paris

Paris, 13 January 1999

Note for the Professional File

Dear Mr Jannot,

I thank you for your letter of 29 December 1998, following my notes of 8 and 21 December 1998 addressed to the Director General. I have read your note with great interest and I repeat, yet again, that I shall of course conform with your instructions concerning my work and professional conduct.

My only wish is for a harmonious working relationship with yourself and members of our Department and the Central Bureau in general and I seize the occasion to express my happiness that we have, as have the Director General and I, decided to meet at least once a week to study the status of ongoing events, and I suggest we profit from these meetings to discuss operational matters continuously before time renders recollections unclear. On my side, in order to maintain clear records and in order to be able to constructively react to or build upon observations, I have set in place a system of maintaining records of instructions received and information passed on. I am confident that these improvements will avoid further misunderstanding and enable effective collaboration.

Understandably, due to time lapses and our respective work-loads, there are points where our recollections differ. Having taken your instructions to heart, I nevertheless feel obliged to respond to some of the points raised by yourself and the Deputy Head of Administration and Finance, Mr Gary Sutherland.

First of all, I wish to state that I regret that the observations made by yourself and the Deputy Head of Administration and Finance refer to events already "out of date" and are often expressed vaguely, which leaves me little possibility for reasoned explanation or, if called for, justification.

As regards the OIE-That Agreement:

Your affirmation that I have translated and transmitted to the Royal Thai Government a draft agreement is erroneous, as close scrutiny of the records shows. I initiated no changes to the agreement, made no translation of it, and certainly did not submit it to the Thai Government on my own authority.

The only article that was changed between the September 1997 version and the final document signed in November 1998 was article 6(a). The change to article 6(a) was proposed on 27 October 1998, after negotiations with the Thai Government, to the Director General by Dr Laurence Gleeson (1). On 28 October 1998 this proposed amendment was recommended by Dr Yoshihiro Ozawa (2).

On 29 October 1998 Director General Blancou wrote to Dr Ozawa, with copy to Dr Gleeson, expressing satisfaction with the progress made on achieving the OIE-Thai agreement. On 29 October 1998 Dr Gleeson wrote to me stressing the urgent need to finalise negotiations in time for the Director General’s mission to Vietnam and Thailand, scheduled for the period 24 November 1998 to 2 December 1998.

On 2 November 1998 I, upon your instruction, sent a message to Dr Gleeson in which you expressed satisfaction with the proposed change to the basic agreement text from September 1997. On Thursday 5 November 1998 Dr Gleeson asked me to provide, by the following morning by the latest, the redrafted version of the agreement to the Thai Delegate to the OIE, so that he and the OIE Regional Representative, Dr Ozawa, could discuss it. At the time, you were absent, the Director General had only just returned from mission, and I was not yet under the working restrictions currently in place. Therefore, in the interest of the Office and the South East Asia Foot and Mouth Disease Campaign project and mindful of our long-standing desire to conclude the agreement with the Royal Thai Government as well as of the approbations expressed by the Director General and yourself, I responded to Dr Gleeson’s pressing request.

It is therefore clear that I never, of my accord, made any changes to the agreement nor acted in a manner that contradicted the expressed instructions of my superiors. Furthermore, your satisfaction with this matter was clearly expressed in your note to me of 16 November 1998, and in that of 17 November 1998 of the Director General to the Thai Delegate.

The note of the Mr Gary Sutherland (3)

As regards Mr Sutherland's letter to me of 7 December 1998, I can only express great sadness that Mr Sutherland elected to make certain claims about my services in writing, instead of discussing matters with me immediately after the events causing him displeasure, and that you validate this letter which does not seem to have a place within the rules setting the framework of OIE staff management. Had Mr Sutherland shared his thoughts with me immediately after each of the meetings, I am sure you will agree, a more fruitful analysis of events could have been made in a more constructive spirit. It is difficult to consider receiving comments of such a nature and in such a form two to three weeks after the events, in writing and copied to my hierarchy, as a fair and constructive approach to resolving problems or making observations.

As you have validated this note, verbally and in writing on 29 December 1998, I shall present my recollections of the matter. Unfortunately, at the time I had not felt it necessary to keep detailed notes of instruction so I can not back these points up with paperwork and I fully admit to not having, either now or when I received the note, full and exact recollections of either the time, form or nature of instructions and inputs received. I do recollect that my involvement and responsibilities in the organisation of these meetings remained unclear and the assignments arrived on my desk in a last-minute fashion.

As regards the claims concerning the 13 November 1998 meeting held in Paris, I can only say that I have never been presented with a guide or manual on OIE standards or practices but that I would welcome the assignment to develop such guidance materials. I put together the meeting materials based on inputs and supervision of my hierarchy.

As regards Mr Sutherland’s claims regarding the 24 November 1998 meeting in Russia, I wish to state the following points: It is indeed correct that I was, early in the week of 16 November 1998, instructed to prepare the files for these meetings. However, before being able to perform these duties I needed to receive inputs for the meeting files from Mr Sutherland. I received the English version of the materials on 19 November, the Russian version not yet being ready. I feel it is grossly unfair to allude that preparations for this meeting were delayed due to action on my part. I am sure you agree that one can only get things done when provided with the tools and time to do so. The accusation of "complete lack of professionalism" due to my illness on 20 November 1998, I shall, in the interest of good working relations, leave aside.

Regarding the financial follow-up of the Regional Representations and other

It is difficult to respond to your statement that I do not fully understand the different financial aspects of these entities, and I would gladly discuss the matter with you at your earliest convenience. As regards supposed confusion on my side regarding transfers to the Regional Representation for the Americas and moneys received for the same representation, I can only state, as I did during our meeting on 26 November 1998, that I was in need of input from the Central Bureau accountant who detains information out of my reach and that he had not been in a position to respond quickly due to his considerable work-load.

I recall that we held two separate meetings in July. One where we discussed my services within the Department and the Office and during which you did indeed express complete satisfaction, and one some days later when we discussed my salary and you postponed the issue to after my first year of service with the Office.

I renew my assurance to you that I shall, mindful of all your instructions and observations, continue to perform my duties and the tasks entrusted upon me with the goal of contributing effectively to the activities of the Office.

Sincerely yours,

Patrick Reis-Ekelund
Administrative Assistant
Administrative and Financial Department

(1) OIE Senior Regional Coordinator in Bangkok
(2) OIE Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific
(3) Deputy Head of Administration and Finance