TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May20/25)
26 May 2020
Third World Network

Sharp concerns over attempts to rush through DG selection process
Published in SUNS #9125 dated 26 May 2020

Geneva, 20 May (D. Ravi Kanth) – The chair of the WTO General Council, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, has advised WTO members of his intention to immediately engage with members to set in motion a process for selecting a new Director-General (DG) for the World Trade Organization to succeed the current DG Roberto Azevedo.

Azevedo had advised an informal Heads-of-Delegation meeting on 14 May that he will be stepping down from his office end-August, one year ahead of the end of his second term on 31 August 2021.

Several members remain sharply concerned at the attempts by the GC chair to rush through the selection process for choosing a new Director-General, trade envoys told the SUNS.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic that has led to huge loss of lives and continued lockdowns in many developing and least-developed countries, the General Council (GC) chair has sent an email to members on 18 May concerning the process for selecting the new DG to replace Azevedo.

In an urgent email, Ambassador Walker referred to the announcement made by the current director-general to step down on 31 August 2020.

“I would immediately engage with Members with a view to initiating as soon as possible a process for the appointment of a new Director-General, as set out in the Guidelines for the Appointment of Directors-General adopted by the General Council in 2002 and contained in WT/L/509,” Ambassador Walker said in the email.

According to the GC decision contained in WT/L/509 and adopted on 10 December 2002, members had agreed that “the appointment process shall start nine months prior to the expiry of the term of an incumbent Director-General with a notification from the Chair to the General Council. The process shall conclude with a meeting of the General Council convened not later than three months prior to the expiry of an incumbent’s term, at which a decision to appoint a new Director-General shall be taken.”

“Members shall have one month after the start of the appointment process to nominate candidates. Nominations shall be submitted by Members only, and in respect of their own nationals. The candidates nominated shall then have three months to make themselves known to Members and to engage in discussions on the pertinent issues facing the Organization. The remaining two months prior to the conclusion of this process shall be devoted to selecting and appointing one of the candidates,” the GC decision said.

But the GC chair, in his email, said that “in this regard, and unless I hear any objections (from members) by Wednesday, 20 May at 12h00 noon, I intend to send out a communication later that day, notifying all Members of the start of the appointment process on 25 May 2020,” the GC chair insisted.

Subsequently, Members will be given “one month after the start of the appointment process to nominate candidates” and “the deadline to nominate candidates will be 26 June 2020.”

Ambassador Walker said that he will be available for consultations “with members with a view to establishing expedited deadlines as necessary for this process and will be engaging with Members on such deadlines in the coming days.”

Ahead of the initiation of a process for selection, several candidates from Africa, and at least two from developed countries have made known their candidacy.

The GC chair is also convening a virtual regular General Council meeting on 29 May to take decisions on the date and venue for the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference.

But several countries, who spoke to the SUNS, are alarmed over the GC chair’s urgent email setting out the process without giving adequate time for them to consult with their capitals, as well as turning a blind eye to the GC decision of 2002 in order to accommodate Azevedo’s decision to step down.

“The manner in which the GC chair is rushing the selection process raises several questions as it gives an impression whether a candidate has already been decided,” said several trade envoys, who asked not to be identified.

The GC chair should have strictly followed the GC decision reached in 2002 and the past practice of enabling the GC to appoint an acting DG from the four deputy DGs or delayed the selection process until conditions in countries came back to normal after the worst pandemic that has resulted in more than 300,000 lives and 4 million new cases.

“We don’t see any reason for rushing through the selection process for accommodating Azevedo’s sudden decision,” said a trade envoy, who asked not to be quoted.

At the worst, regular work without formal decisions can be carried out while allowing countries to decide their candidates, the envoy said.

Egypt, which coordinates the African Group and has a candidate in Abdul Hamid Mamdouh, the former director of the WTO’s services division, seems determined to convey to the GC chair to go ahead with the process, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted.

Kenya may also convey to the GC chair to proceed with the selection process as Nairobi is likely to put up it’s current sports minister Amina Mohamed.

Though she contested last time for the DG post in 2013 and fared badly, her candidature this time around has assumed significance, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted.

Fears have also been expressed about Ms Mohamed’s candidature at a time when Kenya is negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted.

Kenya is the first African country to negotiate with the US for a bilateral free trade agreement that could enable the US to set new benchmarks for market-oriented trade policies in Africa, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted.

Kenya is also the first African country to agree to give up special and differential treatment (S&DT) at the WTO.

Nairobi is also the only member from Africa to have joined the Montreal Group of major developed countries (except the US) and several other developing countries. The Montreal Group was formed more than a year ago.

Other African candidates include Ambassador Eloi Laourou of Benin, who was the first to start campaigning from last year for the post of DG. Benin also joined the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) group on electronic commerce.

According to unconfirmed reports, Nigeria’s former trade envoy and currently deputy director-general at the WTO, Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah, is also one of the African candidates.

Even though the African Union (AU) has not taken a formal decision until now as to who should be their candidate for the WTO’s top job, candidates from several African countries are already throwing their hat into the DG race, trade envoys said.

The AU leaders are expected to meet in Addis Ababa in July where they are expected to take a formal decision.

Two other candidates from the developed countries – the former EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and former New Zealand’s trade minister Tim Grosser (who had contested in the 2013 race but fared badly) – are also likely to figure in the current race to replace Azevedo, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the WTO’s budget committee held a brief meeting on 19 May to decide whether a formal meeting of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration should be held on 3 June.

Members present at the informal budget committee meeting agreed to convene the meeting on 3 June. The agenda for the meeting contains several controversial issues, particularly the oversight of trust funds, said participants after the meeting.

The European Union is trying to smuggle in its recently notified Multi-Party Interim Arrangement for resolving trade disputes under Article 25 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding in the absence of the Appellate Body, said one of the participants, who asked not to be quoted.

Earlier, the US had raised several questions about the management of the trust funds. The US had submitted a list of questions to the WTO on 7 November 2019 “relating to the coordination, governance and administrative responsibilities of multi-donor voluntary contribution trust funds”.

The US sought to know last year, among others:

i. “What is the policy or process currently in place within the WTO Secretariat to ensure full coordination across the institution in establishing voluntary contribution trust funds?”;

ii. “When individual divisions undertake initiatives to establish a trust fund, or to enter into a partnership with an external organization on behalf of the WTO for the purpose of establishing a trust fund, what internal process provides for transparency to Members about these efforts at the initiation stage, and also ensures that the organization as a whole understands and agrees with commitments undertaken by any particular division?”;

iii. “Why do recent voluntary contribution trust funds, established for the purposes of providing technical assistance or capacity building, not fall under the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation?”;

iv. “What entity is ultimately accountable for the activities, decisions and outcomes of these trust funds? Secretariat staff, donor agencies, some other entities among others?”.

It remains to be seen what the US is going to say at the formal budget committee meeting on 3 June on the agenda item “Coherence in the Establishment and Management of WTO Trust Funds,” the participant said.