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GENEVA: The head of the World Trade Organization announced on Thursday (May 14) that he will resign on August 31, a year before his term ends, despite the COVID-19 pandemic that is raging the global economy.
Roberto Azevedo said it had been a “personal decision” reached with his family, and emphasized that he would not leave to seek “political opportunities.”
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“This is a decision that I do not take lightly,” Azevedo told representatives of member states, according to a written version of his speech.
Azevedo’s early departure will come at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has driven the global economy and international trade into turmoil, facing recessions not seen since the Great Depression.
Already hit by political tensions and uncertainties around Brexit, world trade is expected to see “double-digit declines” in volumes in almost all regions this year, the WTO said last month.
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The 164-member organization was already in crisis before the pandemic hit, dealing with furious trade wars and scathing criticism from the United States under President Donald Trump, who has lobbied for reforms of the Geneva-based body.
Referring to Azevedo’s announcement, Trump said Thursday at a briefing at the White House that “I agree,” adding that “the World Trade Organization is horrible.”
‘NEW POST-LIFE REALITIES’
Meanwhile, Azevedo said he was “convinced that this decision serves the best interests of this organization.”
The 62-year-old Brazilian career diplomat, who became the head of the WTO in 2013, suggested that an early change in leadership would help him face “new post-COVID realities.”
He also insisted that his move would avoid weighing the twelfth WTO ministerial conference next year with the difficult process of finding his successor.
“My departure in August will give him the time he needs to work with my successor, whoever he is, to shape the strategic direction of MC12 and the months and years that follow,” he said.
He said the current slowdown in activity due to measures taken to curb the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportune time to seek its replacement.
EU trade chief Phil Hogan said in a statement that he agreed.
“It is essential that we quickly chart a new path at this critical and uncertain time for trade. It makes sense to proceed with the succession process now rather than waiting until next year,” he said.
However, not everyone agreed that the timing was right.
Azevedo’s expected departure “comes at a very bad time for the institution, as the trading system has been deeply destabilized,” Sebastien Jean, head of the CEPII expert group, told AFP.
He noted “the existing tensions, in particular the scathing criticism of the President of the United States, the violations of many agreements, the trade war between the United States and China and the paralysis of the appeals body.”
Azevedo, who before his appointment as head of the WTO spent five years as Brazil’s ambassador to the organization, has enjoyed a reputation as a consensus-maker.
During his first term, he spent a lot of energy trying to unlock long-term trade deals.
AFRICAN CANDIDATE
For almost two decades, the WTO failed to conclude the Doha Round of trade liberalization talks.
However, under Azevedo’s supervision, WTO members concluded their first multilateral agreement when they reached an agreement in Bali in late 2013 on the revision of global customs procedures.
But since their second term began in 2017, countries have failed to reach more multilateral agreements, and the WTO has struggled to deal with a US administration openly hostile to its multilateral approach.
The WTO was forced to suspend its dispute resolution appeal system last December after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges, preventing it from reaching a quorum of three judges.
Meanwhile, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer praised Azevedo’s service.
“Despite the many shortcomings of the WTO, Roberto has run the institution with grace and a firm hand. It will be difficult to replace him,” he said in a statement.
Many observers are already betting on a candidate from Africa, and against insider information from the WTO.
A diplomatic source told AFP that there seemed to be a clear “consensus” that the next leader should not come from “great economic power”, and certainly not from China or the United States, in light of their trade war.
