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TWN Info
Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Sept20/16) Washington DC, 17 Sep (D. Ravi Kanth) – The chair of the WTO General Council, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, is scheduled to convene a meeting on 18 September to inform members of the outcome of the first round of consultations for selecting a new director-general out of the eight candidates in the race. Preliminary indications are that three candidates – Mr Tudor Ulianovschi from Moldova, Mr Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri from Saudi Arabia or Mr Abdulhameed Mamdouh from Egypt, and Mr Jesus Seade Kuri from Mexico – could be asked to vacate the field due to lack of support, said a person familiar with the selection process. The remaining five candidates – Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria, Mr Abdulhameed Mamdouh from Egypt (or Mr Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri from Saudi Arabia), Ms Yoo Myung-hee from South Korea, Ambassador Amina Mohamed from Kenya, and Mr Liam Fox from the United Kingdom – may proceed to the second round, the person said, preferring anonymity. In an email sent to members on 16 September, Ambassador Walker invited them “to an informal meeting at the level of Heads of Delegations on Friday, 18 September at 11 a.m. in the Council Room.” “The purpose of the meeting, accompanied by the Facilitators in the appointment process (of the director- general) – the Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body, Amb. Castillo (Honduras) and the Chair of the Trade Policy Review Body, Amb. Aspelund (Iceland) – (is) to report to the membership on the outcome of the first round of consultations, as required under the Procedures,” Ambassador Walker said in his email. The chair said he will also announce on Friday the date of the start of the second round of consultations. The real race in selecting the new DG to replace the former head Roberto Azevedo, who had joined PepsiCo Inc., will start in the second round when there is expected to be intense lobbying by the five candidates for support in which three candidates would have to vacate the field depending upon the level of preferences. That will leave two candidates to compete in the final round which could start next month. However, there are serious doubts as to whether the race would be completed by 7 November as planned, said another person who asked not to be quoted. During a virtual brainstorming session on “Towards MTS for Development and Inclusivity” on 2 September, the former South African trade minister Rob Davies cautioned that the new director-general may not be able to avert the systemic crisis at the WTO unless the developing countries build a strong coalition to ensure that their core developmental interests are safeguarded. Minister Davies said while the developing countries “need reform”, they must define their own approach centred on “Reform for Development and Inclusivity.” In addition to the Global New Green Deal, the developing countries must pursue what he proposed as the Geneva Agenda. This includes: (1) “global rules should be calibrated towards the overarching goals of social and economic stability, shared prosperity, and environmental sustainability and be protected against capture by the most powerful players”; (2) “states share common but differentiated responsibilities in a multilateral system built to advance global public goods and protect the global commons;” and (3) “the right of states to policy space to pursue national development strategies should be enshrined in global rules.” Further, said Davies, “global regulations should be designed both to strengthen a dynamic international division of labour and to prevent destructive unilateral economic actions that prevent other nations from realizing common goals,” and “global public institutions must be accountable to their full membership, open to a diversity of viewpoints, cognizant of new voices, and have balanced dispute resolution systems.”
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