Who Should WTO Choose As Director-General?
Full Title: How Should WTO Members Choose Among the Nine Candidates for Director-General?
Author: Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck
GEG Briefing Note
Abstract
The race to determine who will take the mantle of the WTO from current Director-General Pascal Lamy – who steps down in August this year – is now well underway. The nine candidates vying for the job are set to address the organization’s Membership this week at a three-day meeting of the WTO General Council. The choice of Director-General – the first new one since 2005 – is crucial because movement is urgently needed on many fronts: on the negotiating side, the Doha Round is well into its twelfth year, with no end in sight; questions abound on the vision and strategic direction for the multilateral trading system; and at the institutional level, reforms are required in order to ensure the WTO is fit for purpose. Addressing these challenges will require exceptional leadership.
Although some commentators and experts have asserted strong views on the mandate of the WTO, it is far from clear that Members always agree on what the organisation should be for, beyond resolving disputes based on the existing set of rules. As such, Members may also have very different visions regarding the appropriate role of the Director-General, and thus what the ideal DG would be like.
The Director-General selection process should be grasped as a much-needed opportunity for WTO member states and stakeholders to re-engage in dialogue on a vision for the future of the multilateral trading system and what kinds of leadership it needs to address today's challenges. On this basis, Members should clarify what they consider to be the appropriate role of the Director-General, and use merit-based criteria to select the best-qualified candidate for the job.
Author Bio
Carolyn Deere Birkbeck is a Senior Researcher at Oxford University’s Global Economic Governance Programme. She is an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and Senior Associate at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).
