WTO director-general leaves office a year early, leaving the organisation aimlessly
The Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, until now Director General of the WTO (World Trade Organisation), left the institution on Monday, one year before the end of his mandate, after joining the multinational Pepsi. The organisation is being left headless and aimless in one of its most complicated moments, with little capacity to make deals and much criticism from US President Donald Trump. In mid-May, Mr. Azevedo announced that he would step down one year before the end of his term of office for "family reasons". There is no shortage of candidates to succeed the Brazilian. They are eight: three Africans, two Europeans, two Asians and one Latin American. But international tensions and the increasing politicisation of elections to head international organisations could complicate the process of appointing the new director general.
Mr. Azevedo was elected head of the WTO in 2013 and was re-elected for a second term in 2017. The organisation was on the verge of administrative closure at the end of 2019 due to the reluctance of the US administration to approve the budget it allocated to the organisation. The United States finally gave its arm in exchange for not funding any of the funds for Appellate Body arbitrators who were reaching the end of their terms. This made the institution Trump's hostage and the means by which it prevents the WTO from fulfilling its role of settling trade disputes between member countries, since its function is to render decisions that states are ultimately obliged to respect.
However, since December 11, the US has been preventing the Appellate Body from functioning by refusing to approve the appointment of judges to replace those who have served their terms. While under normal circumstances the body operates with seven members, between 2016 and 2019 it operated with only three members (minimum quorum), but in December two of them ended their terms, leaving only one judge in office. In the midst of this institutional paralysis, Azevedo decided to accept the offer of the multinational Pepsi, the company for which he will work from 1 September. His new role will be that of executive vice-president and director of business and communications of the company, a newly created position that will be held by the Brazilian, an engineer by training and a career diplomat.
"What a shame, to allude to personal motives and move to the private sector. It's every man for himself," a European diplomat accredited to the WTO in Geneva told Efe about Azevedo's departure. In addition to alluding to "personal reasons", the former director-general assured delegations and the press that his decision to leave the WTO a year earlier was linked to his wish that the process of selecting his successor would not disrupt preparations for the WTO ministerial conference scheduled for July 2021. "Mr. Azevedo decided to leave his post opportunistically, at a time when the organisation is going through its worst crisis," the former chair of the WTO Appellate Body, Ricardo Ramirez, told Efe. "I have always believed that he never had a real interest in moving the organisation forward and this only confirms it," said Mr. Ramírez, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Mr. Ramírez agreed on the need for new rules to prevent officials at the WTO and other multilateral organizations from moving so easily to the private sector.
Azevedo has led initiatives within the WTO on issues related to gender, labour and sexual harassment or abuse of power. He has also opened up the organisation to the private sector for new ideas. As of this Monday, the WTO is in the hands of four Deputy Directors-General, who will be responsible for decisions in their respective areas until a Director-General is elected. The election of the next director must be completed by 7 November.
The future head of the WTO will face major challenges such as the preparation of the 2021 ministerial conference, the revival of negotiations and the resolution of disputes between the organisation and the United States. All this in the midst of the world economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington considers that the United States has been treated "unfairly" by the WTO and has threatened to leave the organisation. It wants it renewed and has been blocking the appeal court of its dispute settlement body since December.
"The United States wants the next director-general to share America's concerns, many of which concern China. Since the director general is chosen by consensus, this firm position complicates the selection," explains Manfred Elsig, professor of international relations at the World Trade Institute in Berne, in statements collected by the AFP agency. "Many WTO members may want to wait until after the elections, hoping for a change of government," he estimates.
From September 7 to 16, the WTO will hold a first round of consultations - known as "confessional" consultations - with each member to eliminate the three worst placed candidates for consensual support. Two more rounds will be held, probably in October and November. The inability of member countries to agree in July on an interim director has demonstrated "the politicization of the issue," says a source close to the case consulted by the AFP agency. "The issue is how far some might be willing to go, for example by blocking a candidate accepted by the other members," a Western diplomat told AFP.