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TWN Info
Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jul20/06) Geneva, 3 Jul (D. Ravi Kanth) – The chair of the WTO General Council, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, has announced the schedule of meetings for interviewing the candidates that are vying for the post of WTO Director-General to replace the current incumbent Roberto Azevedo, who steps down on 31 August. In an email sent to members on 1 July, the General Council (GC) chair informed members that three special GC meetings are being scheduled for 15-17 July 2020 during which the aspiring candidates will be interviewed by the members. The schedule indicates both physical and virtual meetings. Despite doubts being voiced by the European Union trade commissioner Phil Hogan last week that the selection process may not be completed by end-August, and with August also being the month for the summer break, it remains to be seen whether things can be done transparently and credibly, said people familiar with the selection process. During the DG selection processes back in 2005 and 2013, the former Brazilian trade envoy Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa and Ambassador Amina Mohamed from Kenya had respectively asked for the voting figures after they lost in the first round. But both the GC chairs in 2005 and 2013 had refused to share the figures. Moreover, at a time when the Covid-19 cases are on the rise the world over and many national capitals remain in locked-down conditions to prevent the rapid spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, the GC chair’s decision to press ahead with the selection process has raised concerns. Even as the restrictions are growing due to the resurgence of Covid-19, including in Switzerland which on 2 July announced fresh restrictions on people coming from different countries, as well as the technical and bandwidth problems being faced in Switzerland, the GC chair appears to be steam-rolling through the selection process, said people familiar with the latest developments. “The recent spate of virtual meetings being conducted by the WTO were mired in technical problems wherein the participants found it difficult at many times to either hear clearly or see clearly the delegate talking during their interventions in the virtual meetings,” said a person, who asked not to be quoted. “In a DG selection process, if one cannot see the body language and the nuanced expressions clearly, then, how can any member decide,” the person asked. “Apparently, the candidates from Korea and Mexico prefer to be interviewed remotely, which is fine if bandwidth problems are alright in Switzerland and the WTO Secretariat is able to ensure that virtual meetings can be conducted without technical glitches,” the person said. In his email sent to members on 1 July, the GC chair informed them of the arrangements being made for the conduct of the special GC meetings. Ambassador Walker provided the following details: * Each candidate will be invited to make a brief presentation lasting no more than 15 minutes. This will be followed by a question-and-answer period of no more than one hour and 15 minutes. During the last five minutes of the question-and-answer period, candidates will have the opportunity to make a concluding statement if they so wish. * Names of speakers for each question-and-answer period will be drawn at random from a box at the podium which will contain the names of all delegations wishing to put questions to the candidate concerned. All Members wishing to put questions to one or more candidates are requested to use either of the following arrangements that will be made available on 14 July. * Delegations wishing to submit their names physically are requested to place their names in boxes that will be made available for this purpose on 14 July at the lobby of the Council Room from 8.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. The Secretariat will maintain a list of prospective speakers to ensure there is no duplication, and also that only one name per Member is placed in each box. Delegation names only are to be placed in the boxes, not the questions they wish to ask. * Alternatively, delegations may choose to submit their names for this purpose virtually to the Secretariat, at the following email address: dgcandidates2020@wto.org on 14 July, clearly indicating the candidate(s) to whom they would like to ask the question. The Secretariat will ensure that the names are placed in the corresponding boxes. * In order to make the fairest possible use of the time, each Member whose name is drawn from the box will be allowed to ask only one question, with no follow-up questions allowed. This will be followed by a response from the candidate, followed by the drawing of the next speaker, and so on. * Questions should last no more than one minute. Other than questions, there should be no statements from delegations. The Chair will exercise strict discipline to ensure that the one-minute time limit for questions is respected, and that speakers do not engage in general statements. * Members are urged to assist the process by not asking questions that may already have been asked. Similarly, candidates may choose to move on to another question if they feel that one has already been touched on in a previous response. * Candidates will have the opportunity to meet with the Press in the WTO building immediately following their respective meetings with Members in the General Council. Meanwhile, members of the African Union (AU) were unable to hold their virtual meeting on 2 July to finalize their candidate “due to technical challenges,” said a trade envoy, who preferred not to be quoted. With 8 July being the last date for filing of nominations, it remains to be seen whether the AU will be able to put up a single candidate from the two existing candidates – Mr Abdulhameed Mamdouh of Egypt (who was the former director of the WTO’s services division), and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister and current chair of the Board of GAVI (the global alliance for vaccines). The other three candidates in the race for the post of WTO DG include Mr Jesus Seade Kuri, Mexico’s current Under-Secretary for North America; Ambassador Tudor Ulianovschi, the former foreign minister of Moldova; and Ms Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s current trade minister.
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