TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb22/02)
7 February 2022
Third World Network

WTO Secretariat in turmoil over DG's alleged "autocratic" functioning
Published in SUNS #9504 dated 1 February 2022

Geneva, 31 Jan (D. Ravi Kanth) -  The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization appears to be in turmoil, following the resignation of three directors, including its longstanding spokesperson Keith Rockwell due to health and family considerations, said people familiar with the development.

The resignations came in the wake of accusations of alleged "autocratic" functioning of the WTO director-general Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said people who asked not to be quoted.

Mr Rockwell, the WTO spokesperson, had 18 more months to go before his retirement, but he has apparently resigned due to health and family considerations.

However, the other two directors - the director of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) division Mr Victor Do Prado, and the director of the human resources division Mr Christian Dahoui - have apparently resigned because of the DG's alleged "autocratic" functioning, said people, who asked not to be quoted.

Three more directors - the director of the economics division Mr Robert Koopman, the director of the intellectual property division Mr Antony Taubman, and the director of development division Mr Shishir Priyadarshi - are expected to retire in the next few months, a source said.

The DG gave an inkling about the changes in her statement to the informal General Council (GC) meeting on 25 January.

She said that "I have to be clear that this involves people who are moving so that it is not misinterpreted" and "there may be movement of staff who may be retiring and so on."

She went on to tell members that "what is happening in the Secretariat ... I will try to keep you informed as we move along..."

She stated that the "strengthening of the Secretariat is focusing mainly on the Secretariat at the moment" and that "it was really designed for that."

Ms Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that "what we did was to try (to) get your views on what should change there, which has been factored into what is being done. It is not about the Committees or anything like that. This is not the mandate. The mandate is on the Secretariat."

The DG is expected to tell "the staff of the Secretariat" on Tuesday (1 February) about the process she is going to launch in order to strengthen the Secretariat.

But the entire process that the DG has adopted, first by commissioning McKinsey & Company on restructuring the Secretariat of a member-driven and rules-based organization, as well as a consultant for the "transformation group" without members' prior approval, appears to be strewn with irregularities, said a member of the WTO's Committee on Budget, Finance, and Administration, who asked not to be quoted.

The member said that though the DG has informed about the recommendations made by McKinsey & Company last year, she has so far not shared the report with members.

More importantly, she did not provide prior information to the members about the likely selection of a consultant to oversee the transformation team to implement the McKinsey & Company's report, the member added.

Aside from these alleged procedural irregularities, the much bigger problem seems to be the manner in which the DG has treated the directors before their staff and the "fear psychosis" she appears to have created if some of the directors disagreed with her decisions in administering their duties, said several people, who asked not to be quoted.

In the history of the WTO's governance by a new DG, it has never been like this where fear seems to have become the working reality, said a director, who preferred not to be quoted.

The members have also objected to the DG's pronouncements on the controversial Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) that have allegedly violated the provisions set out in the Marrakesh Agreement, oftentimes with the tacit approval of powerful members such as the European Union and Canada, which coordinates the Ottawa Group of countries, said a member, who preferred not to be quoted.

Significantly, at a time when the reconvening of the WTO's 12th ministerial conference (MC12) remains uncertain, the sudden resignation of directors with institutional knowledge, as well as the seemingly flagrant violation of the procedural rules by the DG in the very first year of her administration, appears to have vitiated the overall climate at the WTO, the member said.