WTO Director-General Azevedo officially leaves office
Xinhua News Agency, Geneva, August 31 (Reporter Ling Xin) The Director General of the World Trade Organization Azevedo officially resigned on August 31.
He expressed that he will continue to support the multilateral trading system.
Azevedo said on social media that it was a "great honour" to be the Director-General of the WTO.
The multilateral trading system is the basic pillar of global peace and prosperity. He will continue to support the multilateral trading system in future work.
Azevedo emphasized that a rule-based trading system helps establish order and improve predictability in international economic relations, and helps promote investment, economic growth and job creation.
"All of these are more important than ever."
Azevedo pointed out that the reform process of the WTO must continue, and the system must continue to respond to the needs of the international community.
He also said that international cooperation is not easy, but it is necessary for the current "interconnected" world.
The WTO said goodbye to Azevedo on social media that day and thanked him for his work as the head of the secretariat and on behalf of the organization in the past seven years.
On May 14 this year, Azevedo unexpectedly announced that he would officially leave his post on August 31, ending his term a year earlier.
The WTO started the selection process for its successor on June 8.
Currently, the eight nominated candidates are from Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt, Moldova, South Korea, Kenya, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.
Azevedo was born in 1957 and is from Brazil. He started to serve as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization in September 2013 and was re-elected in 2017. His term of office is until August 31, 2021.