Race for the WTO director-general job : seven candidates speak

Abstract

The race for Director-General (DG) of the WTO has never attracted so much interest. Indeed, this is the first time ever nine individuals from different parts of the globe, all with extensive experience in the area of trade policy, have thrown their hat into the ring and declared their will to head the WTO in the years to come. The set of candidates includes three women; four currently are Ministers in the sitting governments of their countries; and three others have had Ministerial experience. Three of the nine are from OECD member countries (Korea, Mexico and New Zealand); five originate in what the World Bank defines as middle-income countries (Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, and Jordan) and one comes from a low-income country, Kenya. However, as a result of one of the many idiosyncrasies of the WTO, Korea and Mexico are not regarded as ‘developed countries’ in the WTO. Thus, eight of the nine candidates are from what are characterised as developing countries in the WTO.