said he has
the experience and vision to revitalise the World Trade
Organization (WTO) after making it through to the second
round of the selection process for the next Director
General (DG).
Today, three candidates, Dr Jesús Seade, Tudor Ulianovschi
and Hamid Mamdouh, have withdrawn from the race. thanked them for such positive contributions to the
debate surrounding our global trade. The next round of the
process begins on Thursday 24th September.
Speaking from Geneva where has been meeting representatives from around the
world, the former UK International Trade Secretary
said:
I want this DG election to be a real choice – we need the
best qualified candidate for the job with the ability to
deliver what the Membership is demanding. I believe I am
that candidate.
The UK Prime Minister
nominated to be a candidate to replace current Director
General, Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down after seven
years in charge.
is campaigning to restore the credibility of the
WTO at the heart of the rules-based trading system, reform
its Appellate Body, deliver genuine gender equality by
ensuring that at least half of his top team are women and
work more closely with other international organizations.
He says that from the first day of his appointment he will
work to ensure the global pandemic does not lead to a rise
in protectionism, and will make smaller developing
countries, small businesses and ‘ensuring global trade
works for everyone’ his key priorities.
Today he warned it is vital the WTO selects a leader with
the right qualifications for a series of urgent challenges.
He said:
It cannot be a ‘business as usual’. The WTO was facing
very significant challenges before COVID-19. Those
headwinds are made all the more urgent by the pandemic.
Declining trade volumes, disagreements about the
normative agenda, and most importantly, a breaking down
of the multilateral consensus which enabled the WTO to be
established are challenges we need to tackle head-on.
The WTO needs leadership at the top with an unswerving
belief in the power of open markets to drive economic
development and prosperity.
It is one of the world’s great institutions. It has
tremendous technical expertise, a wealth of experience
and a long institutional memory. But it lacks political
momentum at a time when most of the blockages in the
global trading system are political and will need to be
sorted out in national capitals as well as in Geneva.
I see the role of the DG as building bridges and
rebuilding trust across the world.
My time as a UK Minister in one of the world’s biggest
economies with a respected development agenda allowed me
to get a real sense of both opportunities and
frustrations across the Membership. I am looking forward
to continuing this campaign.
