WTO Members Meet The Candidates For Director-General

The eight candidates nominated for the post of WTO Director-General met with members on 15-17 July at a meeting of the General Council. Each candidate made a brief presentation to members, including their vision for the WTO, followed by a question-and-answer period.

The eight candidates made their presentations in the order in which their candidatures were received. The eight candidates are:

• Dr Jesús Seade Kuri (Mexico)
• Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria)
• Mr Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt)
• Mr Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova)
• Ms Yoo Myung-hee (Republic of Korea)
• Ms Amina C. Mohamed (Kenya)
• Mr Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
• Dr Liam Fox (United Kingdom)

Each candidate was invited to make a brief opening presentation. This was followed by a question-and-answer period of no more than one hour and fifteen minutes. During the last five minutes of the question-and-answer period, candidates had the opportunity to make a concluding statement if they so wished.

After their presentations at the General Council, each candidate held a press conference at the WTO. These press conferences were webcast live on the WTO website.

More information on the candidates, including biographical notes, opening statements to the General Council, archived video of the press conferences, and photo galleries are available here on the WTO website.

The current phase of the selection process in which the candidates “make themselves known to members” will end on 7 September. On that date, the third phase will begin. The Chair of the General Council, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, together with the Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body (Amb. Dacio Castillo of Honduras) and the Chair of the Trade Policy Review Body (Amb. Harald Aspelund of Iceland), will start to consult with all WTO members to assess their preferences and seek to determine which candidate is best placed to attract consensus support. This phase may involve more than one stage of consultations as members seek to narrow the field of candidates. The third phase will last no more than two months.

The eight candidates were nominated by their respective governments to succeed the current Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, who announced in May that he would step down on 31 August.

More information on the DG selection process is available here.

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