The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
(WTO) responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. Since the World Trade Organization's decisions are made by member states, either through a
Ministerial Conference or through the General Council, the director-general has little power over matters of policy – the role is primarily advisory and managerial in nature. The director-general supervises the WTO secretariat of about 700 staff and is appointed by WTO members for a term of four years.
The post of Director-General had been vacant since 31 August 2020, after the resignation of
Roberto Azevêdo
Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo (; born 3 October 1957) is a Brazilian career diplomat who served as Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 2013 until 2020. Since 2020, he has been Executive Vice President and Director of Corp ...
of Brazil who had held the post since 1 September 2013.
On February 5, 2021, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria secured the support of the United States for Director-General of the WTO.
Okonjo-Iweala assumed office on 1 March 2021, and became both the first woman and the first African to hold this position.
Before the formation of the WTO, the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its pr ...
(GATT) had a series of
directors-general.
Peter Sutherland
Peter Denis Sutherland (25 April 1946 – 7 January 2018) was an Irish businessman, barrister and Fine Gael politician who served as UN Special Representative for International Migration from 2006 to 2017. He was known for serving in a variety ...
was the last director-general of GATT and the first of the WTO.
List of directors-general
This is a list of former holders of the office of Director-General. The post was created in 1995, although the earlier office of Executive Secretary is often seen as a direct equivalent.
2020 director-general selection
In May 2020, Director-General Azevedo announced that he would step down on 31 August 2020, a year before his mandate was due to expire. On 17 August 2020,
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
organizations urged the member nations to reject the nomination of
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
's
Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, citing
the country's poor human rights records.
General Council Chair David Walker initiated a process of consultation with members from 7 September 2020 onwards, through which the field of candidates was gradually reduced until an appointment was to be made. Eight candidates were put forward by WTO member governments to succeed Azevedo.
The final selection required a consensus of the 164 member countries and was expected to take place in November, 2020.
However, due to "the health situation and current events" the meeting was postponed.
References
External links
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{{Portal bar, Business and economics, Politics
World Trade Organization