Hot Q&A: Who will become the first female Director-General of the WTO

　　Xinhua News Agency, Geneva, October 8th, Hot Q&A: Who will become the first female Director-General of the WTO

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Ling Xin

　　Azevedo, the sixth director-general of the World Trade Organization, left early at the end of August this year, and the selection of his successor is entering a critical stage.

On the 8th, David Walker, chairman of the WTO General Council, announced that the new director-general will be selected from Nigerian candidate Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korean candidate Yu Mingxi.

With a brilliant resume, who will eventually become the first female director-general of the WTO?

Data map: Former WTO Director-General Azevedo delivered a speech.

Photo by Gu Shihong issued by China News Service

entering the finals

　　Prior to this, a total of 8 candidates were formally nominated and run for the WTO Director-General.

According to the plan, the three-person team formed by Walker, the chairperson of the dispute settlement body and the chairperson of the trade policy review body, will meet with representatives of all WTO members and start three rounds of consultations from September 7 to gradually narrow the scope of candidates, and finally The new director-general candidate is determined through the principle of consensus.

　　After the first round of consultations, three candidates were eliminated.

In the second round of consultations from September 24 to October 6, Oconjo-Iweala and Yu Mingxi received wider support from members.

So far, the candidates for the Director-General have been reduced from the original 8 to two.

　　The WTO’s press release emphasized that this result means that the organization’s seventh director-general will be determined to be a woman, which has no precedent in its 25-year history.

　　Okonjo-Iweala subsequently expressed on social media that he was very happy to enter the final round of consultations and thanked WTO members for their continued support as a candidate for director-general.

Yu Mingxi is also grateful and honored to participate in the final round of competition.

She emphasized that the WTO needs a capable and experienced leader to rebuild trust and restore the relevance of the WTO to the current economic and trade environment.

　　The third and final round of consultations for the selection of the Director-General will be held from October 19th to 27th.

Walker expects that the candidate for the Director-General can be determined smoothly and submitted to the General Council for approval.

Each has its own strengths

　　World Trade Organization spokesperson Keith Rockwell told reporters on the 8th that Okonjo-Iweala and Yu Mingxi not only have excellent qualifications, but also have long-term experience in dealing with difficult issues.

　　As a development economist, Okonjo-Iweala served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, during which he demonstrated reform courage and brilliant negotiation skills.

She promoted Nigeria to implement a number of reforms in the fields of macroeconomics and finance.

　　Oconjo-Iweala also has extensive management experience in international organizations.

She has worked for the World Bank for 25 years and served as the Executive Vice President.

Currently, she serves as the chairman of the board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

　　Yu Myung Hee is the Minister of Trade and Negotiations of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea. He has worked in the trade field for 25 years. He has rich experience in bilateral and regional free trade agreement negotiations. He is a senior trade figure.

She has participated in major international negotiations on behalf of the South Korean side for many times and is an important negotiator of the South Korean side in the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, and the new version of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.

Whose Flower

　　Bernard Hawkman, a professor at the European University College, said that the uneven economic development among and within WTO members is not only one of the root causes of trade conflicts among members, but also important for the WTO’s failure to advance negotiations and reach new agreements. the reason.

Therefore, Oconjo-Iweala’s expertise and practical experience in the field of development are very important to the WTO.

None of the first six WTO Directors-General has an African nationality. The call for an African to be the Director-General is louder.

　　Some trade experts believe that Yu Mingxi is more likely to be elected.

Edwin Furmaster, a senior trade expert at the international law firm VVGB, believes that a director-general from South Korea may be more likely to persuade the United States to cooperate with other members and find feasible solutions to existing WTO problems. success.

　　Manfred Elsig, a professor of international relations at the World Trade School in Bern, Switzerland, believes that the final selection will also depend on whether the United States is willing to "constructively" participate.

He said that the current U.S. government is obstructing the work of the WTO to prompt other members to make compromises.