WTO chief in surprise early departure

GENEVA－World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo will step down a year earlier than planned in August, he said on Thursday, in a surprise move that comes as the trade body struggles to rein in global tensions and coordinate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Brazilian has been WTO chief since 2013 and is serving a second term that was due to conclude at the end of August 2021.

He said he had taken a "personal decision" after talking with his family and that his move was not due to health reasons or because of specific political ambitions.

In a statement to the WTO's members, Azevedo, 62, said he thought it was also in the best interests of the organization.

"As members start to shape the WTO's agenda for the new post-COVID realities, they should do so with a new director-general," he told a virtual meeting of national members on Thursday afternoon.

Since the coronavirus crisis hit, Azevedo has called for governments to refrain from imposing export restrictions on food and medical supplies.

The WTO club of 164 members－designed to set global trading rules－has also not produced any major international accord since abandoning its Doha Round of negotiations in 2015.

Its members are negotiating an agreement to cut subsidies for fishing to allow a revival of depleted fish stocks, while a smaller group is discussing a possible deal on e-commerce. However, key differences remain and the participants are far from the consensus required to agree on both deals.

Some members, notably the United States, Japan and the European Union, are pushing for more fundamental reforms. They say global trading rules need to reflect new realities.

Such issues might have been addressed at the WTO's biennial meeting due to have taken place in Kazakhstan in June. That has now been pushed back to mid-or late-2021. Azevedo said his departure would allow a successor to be in place before then.

Azevedo said the WTO could not stand still while the world around it changed, nor ignore the "new normal" that is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Azevedo would be difficult to replace and Washington looked forward to participating in the process of selecting a successor.

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said it was a good time to find a new chief but this needed to be done this year, as the WTO was encountering major challenges and louder voices demanding reform.

Simon Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at Switzerland's University of St. Gallen, said the next director-general would need to put the WTO back together again.

"The next leader of the WTO must command respect in the corridors of power of the major players. This is not the time to promote another ambassador. Someone with very senior government experience or global status is needed," Evenett said.

Agencies - Xinhua