GENEVA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Peter Sutherland, the first Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), passed away Sunday at the age of 71, the WTO said Monday.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo expressed his sadness on Sutherland's passing, saying that he was a great man and a great friend of the global trading system.

"He was instrumental in laying the foundation for the WTO and the multilateral trading system as we know it today," Azevedo said in a statement.

"He was dedicated to the principle that opening trade meant opening possibilities for economic growth, development and job creation. This principle is as important today as it was when the WTO was created," he added.

Sutherland took the helm of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1993 at a time when the outcome of the broad and complex Uruguay Round of global trade talks was very much in question.

Under Sutherland's energetic and determined leadership, the 123 signatories to the GATT reached agreement and signed the Marrakesh Agreement in 1994, concluding the Uruguay Round and creating the WTO.

Once Ireland's Attorney General in 1981, Sutherland also served as the European Commissioner for Competition from 1985 to 1989.

After leaving the WTO in 1995, Sutherland worked for three decades in senior positions in the banking and energy sectors.

In 2006, Sutherland was named as UN Special Representative for Migration, a position which he retained for the rest of his life.