There are now eight candidates - including three women - for the post of Director-General (DG) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the deadline for applications on 8 July: three Africans - no African representative has ever been chosen for the post - one British, one Mexican, one Moldovan, one Saudi and one South Korean.
The unexpected announcement of the departure of the head of the organisation, Brazilian Roberto Azevêdo, one year before the end of his mandate, makes it urgent to find a replacement who will have to carry out the reform of the WTO. Instead of 9 months, the consensual appointment mechanism is expected to lead to a compromise between the 164 members of the organisation within 3 months.
Next step: the candidates will meet with WTO members at a special meeting of the General Council from 15 to 17 July.
The EU did not put forward a candidate (see EUROPE 12516/16, 12501/23); however, the EU27 could agree to support a single candidate for the post - a challenge, still, as Member States have not been able to agree on a single name in the past.
However, a consensus seems to have emerged around the ideal profile: a candidate with a political stature who is used to identifying compromises (see EUROPE 12497/16).
Among the “candidates from like-minded countries”, a criterion mentioned by the Dutch Minister for Trade, Sigrid Kaag, is the candidacy of the South Korean Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, a country with which European leaders recently celebrated common values, including the adoption of a Green Deal (see EUROPE 12517/2, 12502/12).
London submitted the candidature of Liam Fox, former British Secretary of State for Trade and Defence, who was chosen over Peter Mandelson, the former Trade Commissioner who was considered too pro-European, according to British observers. Fox's supporters believe that he is close enough to Washington to consider reconciling the US with the WTO, one of the challenges facing the next DG.
The Nigerian, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister and president of the Global Alliance for Vaccines (Gavi), could also stand out among the list of candidates, which also includes Kenya’s Amina Mohamed, the Egyptian, Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, Mexico’s Jesús Seade Kuri, the Moldovan, Tudor Ulianovschi and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)