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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Nov24/13) Geneva, 19 Nov (D. Ravi Kanth) — The chair of the World Trade Organization’s General Council, Ambassador Petter Olberg of Norway, on 18 November announced the agenda for a special General Council (GC) meeting to decide on a second term for the sole candidate, the incumbent Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, but it is not certain that it would be “plain sailing”, as the United States could still turn the scales one way or the other, said people familiar with the process. Earlier last month, a spokesperson of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said that the US cannot accept the GC chair’s decision to start the DG selection process based on the notion of a “detection of convergence” as opposed to “consensus”. “The United States is concerned that this action was taken based on the Chair’s assumption of convergence, rather than consensus. The United States will remain engaged in this process, as it will with all other aspects of governance and oversight of the World Trade Organization secretariat,” the spokesperson of the Office of the USTR told this writer in October. When contacted on 12 November, a US official indicated that the US will “not have any comment on this until after the special session”, leaving the crucial decision of giving an endorsement to an allegedly flawed DG selection process hanging in the balance, said people who asked not to be identified. In a restricted two-page communication (Job/GC/417) issued on 18 November, seen by the SUNS, the GC chair said that “in line with the convening notice of 15 November 2024 (WTO/AIR/GC/59), a special meeting of the General Council will be held in the morning of Thursday, 28 November 2024, starting at 10 a.m., to allow the incumbent Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is the sole candidate for the post of Director-General, to make a presentation to Members, including on her vision for the WTO, to be followed by a question-and-answer session of no more than 1.5 hours the same morning.” Ambassador Olberg said, “the General Council meeting will then resume at 11 a.m. on Friday, 29 November 2024 to take a formal decision on the appointment of the next Director-General.” He said, “the Proposed Agenda will be circulated in the WT/GC/W- document series one to two days ahead of the meeting.” Citing the Procedures for the Appointment of Directors-General, as laid out in document WT/L/509, the GC chair said, “the sole candidate for the post, the incumbent Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will make a presentation at the beginning of the morning session of the General Council meeting on Thursday, 28 November.” “Thereafter, there will be a question-and-answer session of no more than 1.5 hours, at the end of which Dr Okonjo-Iweala will have the opportunity to make a concluding statement if she so wishes.” The GC chair further stated that “as has been done in the past, names of speakers for the question-and-answer period will be drawn at random from a box at the podium, which will contain the names of all delegations wishing to put questions to Dr Okonjo-Iweala.” “Members wishing to put questions to Dr Okonjo-Iweala are invited to place their delegation names (not their questions) in a box that will be made available for this purpose on Monday, 25 [November 2024] and Tuesday, 26 November 2024 in Room 2009 of the Centre William Rappard (WTO building) from 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.” The restricted communication further states that “the Secretariat will maintain a list of prospective speakers to ensure there is no duplication, and that only one name per Member is placed in the box.” It would appear that Members are being told not to repeat the same question, giving some flexibility to Ms Okonjo-Iweala, who “may choose to move on to another question if she feels that one has already been touched on in a previous response.” The GC chair has seemingly violated the procedures as outlined in paragraph 7 of document WT/L/509, which unambiguously states 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,” said several current and former trade envoys, including former GC chairs. The incumbent DG’s first term will expire on 31 August 2025, and accordingly, the process must commence in the first week of December this year, said several current and former envoys, who asked not to be quoted. However, the GC chair appears to have finalized the allegedly illegal DG selection process with the support of the European Union, China, and a “ginger group” of so-called “Friends of the System” of which Norway is a member, in an alleged attempt to present a fait accompli to the new Trump administration that had earlier blocked the appointment of the incumbent DG back in mid-2020, said people, who asked not to be quoted. Should the US not disrupt the controversial plan of the GC chair, the DG and the “Friends of the System”, it seems rather clear that on 29 November, the GC will take a decision on the appointment of the next Director- General for another four-year term from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2029. SHOWDOWN WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION? The GC chair’s controversial plan to extend a second term to Ms Okonjo-Iweala could cause a showdown with the Trump administration, which already harbours negative views on several issues, particularly on how the WTO allegedly helped China to become the dominant player in the trade body, said people who asked not to be quoted. The GC chair could have waited so that the Trump administration had a chance to consider things somewhat positively, said a former GC chair, who asked not to be quoted. It is against this backdrop that the SUNS emailed several questions to the GC chair for his response: “1. You started this process without a mandate from the General Council. Upon what basis do you ask the GC to endorse a candidate who emerged from an illegitimate process? 2. Is it that you want to declare the selection of the incumbent DG as the next DG before 1 December when the process must start as per paragraph 7 of the procedures governing the appointment of Directors-General as prescribed in WT/L/509? 3. While the WTO’s DG, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who wanted to appoint facilitators in the agriculture negotiations based on “convergence” and not “consensus”, dropped her plan due to a lack of “consensus”, you are proceeding based on the premise of “detection of convergence.” Are you not only setting double standards but also undermining the rules-based system on irreversible grounds? 4. Your actions seem to indicate that you are in a hurry to get the DG reappointed before the Trump Administration takes office. Have you thought about the consequences of your actions in terms of setting a dangerous precedent for the organization? 5. Don’t you believe that if the incoming US Administration is denied the opportunity to express its views on the next DG, the new USTR may not even cooperate with the WTO leading to the irrelevance of the organization?” Several questions were also sent to the US trade envoy to the WTO, Ambassador Maria Pagan, and the Office of the USTR, for a response to the GC chair’s latest decision to convene a special GC meeting. The questions posed to Ambassador Pagan and the Office of the USTR are as follows: “1. Does the US share the view that the GC Chair commenced the selection process illegally and as such any resulting decision is null and void? 2. Would the US request more time for the incoming Administration to make up its mind as to who should become the next DG? 3. It is customary for outgoing US Administrations to refrain from adopting any major decisions. Is the current Administration going to defer the decision as to who should be the next DG to the incoming Trump Administration? 4. The GC chair is behaving as if he has the green signal from your Ambassador Maria Pagan. If this is the case, or do you think that the GC chair and his allies – EU, China, and the “Friends of the System” group led by Norway, Singapore, and Australia among others – want to pressure the US to reveal its position as to whether it accepts the candidature of the incumbent DG or not?” +
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