The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevêdo, leaves office this Monday (31.08.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX), after seven years at the head of the organization. Azêvedo's departure was planned and comes a year before the end of his second term.
In May, when announced The Brazilian diplomat said the decision was motivated by personal reasons and serves the best interests of the organization in its reform process. For him, the organization should begin to design an agenda for the new realities after the Covid-19 pandemic with a new director general.
The WTO General Council is currently electing the new Director-General, who will be announced in the coming months.. Their countries have proposed eight candidates to lead the organisation and have already been presented to WTO members at a special meeting.
They are: Jesús Seade Kuri, from Mexico; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, from Nigeria; Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, from Egypt; Tudor Ulianovschi, from Moldova; Yoo Myung-hee, from South Korea; Amina C. Mohamed, from Kenya; Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri, from Saudi Arabia; and Liam Fox, from the United Kingdom.
Starting next week, President David Walker begins the first round of consultations with the organization's members to assess their preferences. Two more rounds will follow, when the number of candidates will be narrowed from eight to five and, in the final round, to two. After this process, Walker announces the name of the consensus candidate, which must be approved by the General Council.
The WTO began its activities on 1 January 1995 and has since acted as the principal body for administering the multilateral trading system. The organization's objective is to establish a common institutional framework to regulate trade relations between its various members and to establish a mechanism for peaceful resolution of trade disputes, based on the agreements currently in force.
Currently, the WTO has 164 members, Argentina being one of its members since January 1, 1995 and a member of the GATT since October 11, 1967.
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