Clock Ticking For Multilateral Trading System, Intermission Over, Says New WTO Head

For new World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevêdo, it is time the WTO reclaims its role in the multilateral trading system. In his opening address to member states today, he called for compromises and a joint effort to restore trust in the system and to reach a successful outcome at the December WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Azevêdo presented his vision to the WTO General Council, which held a special session this morning. A single item stood on the agenda: the statement of the Director General.

The former Brazilian Ambassador to the WTO, Azevêdo stressed the economic slump that many economies still face, in particular developed countries. In that context, the new director general said the multilateral trading system is the best defence against protectionism and a strong ally of growth and development. The WTO, he said, should remain a centre of excellence. “I pledge that I will do all I can to rebuild trust and faith in this organisation in the multilateral trading system,” he said.

He insisted on the need to include all member states, disregarding their size. “I will be an inclusive director general, working closely with everyone – from the Geneva representatives to ministers, from the secretariat to wider stakeholders, from the smallest to the largest delegations,” he said.

WTO is viewed through its inability to reach an agreement on the Doha Development Agenda (stemming from the Doha Round, the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership, dating back to 2001), which overshadows all other WTO activities, he suggested.

The perception of the WTO is that the organisation has “forgotten how to negotiate,” he said. “The perception is paralysis.”

In order to address this situation, Azevêdo suggests that the WTO “send a clear and unequivocal message to the world that the WTO can deliver multilateral trade deals.” The success of the upcoming Bali ministerial thus appears as a priority.

A failure of this conference “would strengthen current negative perceptions, setting us back in all areas of our work,” he said. “The world will not wait for the WTO indefinitely,” he remarked pointedly.

Among other priorities, Azevêdo said WTO must continue to fight protectionism, labelling the effort as “one of the most important aspects of our work.” But the first priority remains the Bali Ministerial Conference, he insisted.

“Delivering on Doha has to be part of any future agenda,” he said, adding that he has ideas on how to achieve this, but that the most urgent is “to restore trust among us and confidence that we can deliver agreements and build a viable path forward on Doha.”

Azevêdo said he would hold intensive consultations with members, starting this week, focusing on three key areas of trade: facilitation, development and some elements of agriculture. “Many of the big issues that divide us are political,” he said, stating his intention to get capitals more involved in Geneva. “Senior officials must be ready to come to Geneva at certain junctures over the next few weeks.”

“The development component will be vital in this process, and I will be listening closely to the developing and to the least developed countries to make sure their interests are taken into account.”

But the clock is ticking, with only 84 days until the ministerial, he said, adding that “we must all be ready to live with some compromises. We cannot lose sight of the bigger picture.”

“Some capitals are already looking elsewhere towards other solutions, which won’t be multilateral,” he warned with an unveiled allusion to free trade agreements that have been flourishing over the last years.

“I believe that the multilateral trading system can be the preeminent force supporting growth and development in the world – lifting people out of poverty, improving living standards and helping to put the global economy back on track.”

“The intermission is over,” he concluded, “It’s time the WTO was back at the centre of the world stage.”

TRIPS Still an Important Pillar of WTO

During a later press conference, following a question about the stalled discussions and negotiation in the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Azevêdo said TRIPS is a “very important pillar” of the WTO’s work and was part of the other priorities mentioned in his morning statement. He will dedicate his efforts to delivering deals, he said.

Pressed to give hints or to unveil the ideas that he mentioned during his morning statement, Azevêdo said little.

On his ideas, in particular on the “post-Bali roadmap,” Azevêdo said he has to check whether members agree with his ideas. This conversation will have to start very cautiously, he said. Sometimes at the WTO, if an idea is presented too early, or by the wrong person, at the wrong moment, a perfectly good idea can disappear, he said.

On the role of the so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in the WTO, Azevêdo said emerging countries have been slowly changing the landscape of the global economy. They also participate more in the global growth and have a bigger share of the world’s market, and are still growing at healthy rates – faster than mature economies. Those factors, he said, have taken those emerging countries closer to international governance, and they are achieving a more active participation than before in this governance, adding that the trend will continue.

Protectionism, he said, is more sophisticated than it was before, more difficult to detect because it is not only a matter of raising tariffs. Sometimes, it is about defining standards and regulations. Those manoeuvres “find room in the grey areas of current agreements,” he said.