Geneva (AFP)
"It is time" to have an African at the head of the WTO for the first time, says the Swiss-Egyptian Hamid Mamdouh, who is seeking the soon vacant post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"Within the framework of the African Union, African countries decided in July 2019 that the next director general of the WTO should be African. It is a strong feeling," said Hamid Mamdouh, who works for the American law firm King & Spalding in Geneva.
"Africa has never occupied this post before and it is time, because all the other regions occupied this post", declared this ex-Egyptian diplomat, installed in Switzerland for 35 years.
Born in Cairo, Hamid Mamdouh, 67, a law graduate, is not the only African candidate ready to enter the battle. The Nigerian Yonov Frederick Agah, currently one of the vice-directors of the WTO, the Beninese Eloi Laourou, ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, were also pre-selected by the African Union in February.
The African Union hoped to select a single candidate by July, with the nomination period for the next WTO chief scheduled to start in December. But the announcement of the anticipated departure of the current boss of the WTO, the Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, took everyone by surprise.
The sixth WTO Director-General announced in mid-May that he would step down at the end of August, a year earlier than expected, for "family" reasons.
The announcement forced the WTO to speed up the process of designating a successor, with candidates having from June 8 to July 8 to submit their files.
It remains to be seen whether African countries will manage to agree around a single candidate by then. Especially since the Kenyan Amina Mohamed, already a candidate in 2012 and a former diplomat in Geneva, seems to also want to start the race.
In the meantime, Mr. Mamdouh is already campaigning in Geneva, highlighting his long experience at the WTO.
Arrived in Geneva in 1985 as a trade negotiator in the diplomatic service of Egypt, he joined in 1990 the GATT, the ancestor of the WTO, as legal adviser then assistant to the deputy director general.
"One of my important responsibilities in this system has been the negotiation and drafting of the General Agreement on Trade in Services", which entered into force in 1995, the birth year of the WTO, said Mr. Mamdoud.
He then spent more than 20 years at the WTO, as Secretary of the Council for Trade in Services until 2001, then at the head of the Services and Investment division until 2017.
In 2018, he joined the law firm King & Spalding, and is also a visiting professor at the Center for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University in London.
- An engineer" -
Mr. Mamdoud recognizes that his professional profile "deviates a bit from the profiles typical of previous general managers", but what could be better than an "engineer" to repair a broken down car, like the WTO?
"The WTO is driven by its members. But to be able to drive your car, it has to be in working order," he said.
"If you are embarking on a process of reform, would you not prefer to have by your side one of the engineers who participated in the design and implementation of the system (...) to help you restore the working order car"? he added.
In the midst of the global economic slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, several major projects await the future boss of the WTO: prepare for the 2021 ministerial conference, give a boost to the negotiations that are stalling and resolve the conflicts between the organization in the United States.
"Everyone agrees that reform is necessary" but differences arise when it comes to "interpreting this", said Mr. Mamdouh.
Its "first priority" will be to relaunch the dialogue, and to "bring the members together around the same table" to find the "problem" and "common ground". "It is greatly needed!"
Another of his priorities will also be to revive the legislative arm of the WTO, he said, arguing that negotiations have stalled "for over twenty years", reducing the organization to a body responsible for resolving conflicts commercial.
© 2020 AFP