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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jun20/07) Geneva, 5 Jun (D. Ravi Kanth) -Nigeria has nominated Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the current chair of the Board of the global vaccine alliance GAVI, as its candidate for the post of Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The nomination has come after Nigeria withdrew its earlier candidate Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah, a current deputy director-general of the WTO, trade envoys told the SUNS. The current incumbent director-general Roberto Azevedo has informed members that he will step down from office on 31 August. Subsequently, the WTO’s General Council (GC) chair, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, had announced on 20 May an expedited selection process, indicating that the selection process will commence on 8 June and the filing of candidates to be completed by 8 July. The candidates will be given an opportunity to present their credentials to the members and the selection process is to be completed in August to enable the new director-general to take office on 1 September (see SUNS #9125 dated 26 May 2020). The GC chair’s expedited selection process is a departure from the earlier selection processes that were consistent with the WTO General Council decision taken in December 2002, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted. On Nigeria’s new candidate, Abuja, in a sudden communication sent to the African Union (AU) on 4 June, has informed that it has “withdrawn the candidacy of Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah for election to the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization.” Abuja announced “the nomination of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to replace Ambassador Agah, as Nigeria’s candidate for the position of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), for the term 2021-2025 at the elections scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021.” Several trade envoys from Africa, who asked not to be quoted, confirmed the change in Nigeria’s candidate and the nomination of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is currently the chair of the Board of GAVI, the global vaccine alliance. Nigeria is expected to inform the trade envoys of the African Group on 5 June, said trade envoys, preferring anonymity. Surprisingly, the Nigerian communication has caused confusion as it maintains that the new director-general will start work from next year, while the expedited selection process aims to complete the process in August 2020. Earlier, three candidates were short-listed by the African Union in January. They include Egypt’s candidate Abdul Hamid Mamdouh, the former director of the WTO’s services division; Benin’s current trade envoy to the WTO, Ambassador Eloi Laourou; and Nigeria’s former trade envoy and now the deputy director-general of the WTO, Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah. Of the three candidates, the AU leaders are expected to choose one during their meeting in July. Kenya’s former foreign minister and the former GC chair Ambassador Amina Mohamed has also indicated that she wants to contest the WTO’s top job. It would be interesting to see what the African Union will decide in the face of a fourth candidate from the region, said a trade envoy, who asked not to be quoted. According to media reports, the European Union has insisted that the next director-general of the WTO ought to be a European. The current European Union trade commissioner Phil Hogan has expressed his desire to lead the global trade body. The other European name making the rounds is Arancha Gonzalez, who is currently Spain’s foreign minister. She had worked as the chef de cabinet for the former WTO director-general Pascal Lamy. The selection of the new Director-General of the World Trade Organization to replace the current incumbent Roberto Azevedo is being shaped as a race between the developed countries versus the developing countries, on grounds that it is the turn of a developed country candidate to head the global trade body, trade envoys told the SUNS. Although African countries repeatedly underscored the need for selecting their candidate for the WTO’s top job since no African candidate has held the post until now, the European Union is advancing the claim that it is the turn of a developed country to lead the organization after Azevedo, who comes from a developing country, Brazil, said trade envoys, who asked not to be quoted. So far, four developed country candidates, namely from three EU member countries (Peter Sutherland, Renato Ruggiero, and Pascal Lamy) and Mike Moore from New Zealand, had led the WTO during different periods between 1995 and now. In contrast, two candidates from developing countries – Supachai Panitchpakdi and Azevedo – have held the WTO’s top job.
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