In a virtual meeting with the members of the WTO earlier today, the Director General of the World Trade Organization,
Roberto Azevêdo
, announced he will be stepping down at the end of August. Doubtless tomorrow’s (presumably virtual) meeting of the WTO General Council will be rich with comments on this dramatic development. Appropriately, we expect Mr. Azevêdo will be richly praised for his stewardship of the organization over the past seven years. He began his term on September 1, 2013.
Appropriately too, attention will now turn to the future of the organization. Breaking that down a bit, WTO members need to choose a new Director-General; to face the challenge of preparing for the next WTO Ministerial Conference, MC12, which is due be held sometime in 2021; and to navigate the maze of political obstacles from the impasse over the Appellate Body to
Senator Hawley
’s (R-MO) resolution calling for the United States to withdraw from the WTO.
There will be time for discussion of all of those things in the days ahead. For today, we shall limit ourselves to a few excerpts from Mr. Azevêdo’s announcement to the WTO membership. We expect you will want to read the full document, and you can do that
here
.
The Personal Side.
Speaking personally, Mr. Azevêdo said:
My tenure as WTO Director-General has been the most demanding, exciting and gratifying period in my professional life.
The Challenge Ahead
was the principal focus of the Director-General’s remarks today, and included this:
We know that the WTO cannot stand frozen while the world around it changes profoundly. Ensuring that the WTO continues to be able to respond to members’ needs and priorities is an imperative, not an option. The “new normal” that emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic will have to be reflected in our work here.
True and meaningful reform is a long-term task. We have had some success in starting to do things differently, but it will take time and commitment from members to keep building paths forward. While I am convinced we have set out in the right direction, the road ahead will entail consequential choices and deep reflection.
MC12 will be a critical landmark for this exercise.
Timing is Everything
. Nothing is clearer from Mr. Azevêdo ’s announcement than his concern that, were he to wait until 2021 to step down, the process of selecting the next Director-General would almost certainly interfere with the planning for the next ministerial conference, MC12. As he explained:
As things stand today, our next Ministerial Conference will take place either in the middle of 2021 or at the end of that year. We have an offer from Kazakhstan to host a June meeting, and there is a real possibility that this scenario will prevail.
In our normal calendar, the selection process for the next WTO DG would start this December, with the nomination of candidates. The selection process would then dominate the first trimester of 2021 – and maybe longer. I don’t have to remind you how intense that process is.
This timing would clearly impair preparatory work for MC12
, irrespective of whether it is held in the northern summer or at the end of the year.
In either case, the selection process would be a distraction from – or worse, a disruption to – our desired outcomes.
Instead of focusing all efforts on the search for compromise – on finding flexibility and making concessions – we would be spending valuable time on a politically charged process that has proved divisive in the past.
