World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo has said in his last speech to the different ambassadors in Geneva that the trade body has achieved a lot, but that much remains to be done. Azevedo, who steps down on August 30 after seven years at the helm of the international trade body, gave his farewell remarks to the General Council on July 23. “Back in September 2013, I said that the WTO was at a crossroads. It’s still at a crossroads – and will continue to be for some time yet,” he said on Thursday, July 23. “This is not surprising, because this Organisation is too important to have it easy.” Azevedo, a former Brazilian diplomat, announced his early departure on May 14, a year before his term would end, leaving a task for members to quickly select his successor before he leaves next month. The DG is stepping down at a time the institution is grappling with global trade tensions, dispute settlement, and a collapse in commerce due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The institution has largely been forced to the sidelines during the increase in trade tensions since Donald Trump’s election as US president and the subsequent tariff war between the US and China. The WTO has consistently been attacked by Trump’s administration, which has strongly criticised its over-reach and blamed it for allowing China to practice unfair trade. The appellate body, the highest authority in the organisation’s dispute settlement process, ceased to function late last year after the US blocked the appointment of new judges to replace two who retired. “The WTO’s future cannot be taken for granted. Updating the system is necessary. Some might believe that the pressures afflicting the WTO are localised, and therefore temporary, but they are not,” he said. Azevedo highlighted that the pressures on trade, and on the WTO, derive from fundamental structural changes in the global economy driven by new technologies, business models, and shifts in the balance of economic power. “The system must respond to these realities,” he noted. The former trade negotiator leaves the organization as governments prepare for next year’s planned meeting of trade ministers on reform of the organization. The ministerial meeting (MC12), which was due to take place in Kazakhstan, was postponed from June this year to next year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the road ahead, he insisted, MC12 will be a key landmark. “It must deliver credible agreements and map the way for further reforms, especially in light of the enormous economic damage caused by the Covid-19 crisis,” he said. The process to select the next DG has already started with eight candidates in the race, including three African candidates from Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt. Africa has never led the organization since its establishment, but all eyes on the three candidates and there is conviction that this should be time for the continent to take over the top job and steer the institution in the right direction. Kenya fronted Amina Mohamed, a former top official at the UN and currently the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage and Culture, Nigeria fronted former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala while Egypt nominated Abdel Hamid Mamdouh, a trade expert.
