While WTO Members are engaged in the second round of consultations with the Chairman of the General Council and his facilitators on which two of the remaining five candidates receive each Member’s preference, the candidates continue to reach out to Members and make media contacts. The second round of consultations started on September 24 and will continue until October 6 with a Heads of Delegation meeting likely held one or two days later to announce the two finalists and the timing of the third round of consultations.
The links below are for selected articles or news clips for three of the five remaining candidate and include news interviews.
The Bloomberg piece for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in not directly WTO related though the WTO Director-General selection process is mentioned. The interview is a joint discussion with Australia’s former Prime Minister Julia Gillard looking at the opportunities for women in leadership in times of crisis.
In Bloomberg’s interview of Minister Yoo, Minister Yoo goes through a number of challenges facing the WTO and answers questions on U.S.-China tensions and responds to a question on whether Japan will oppose her nomination.
Dr. Fox’s interview with the Global Trade Review addresses his interest in the Director-General position, responds to a question about whether his candidacy is serious and answers a question on the relevance of Brexit. His interview with CNBC Africa was wide ranging and he stressed the need for a recommitment by Members to a common enterprise, the need to get the dispute settlement system functioning again. Dr. Fox talked about the needs for Micro-, Small and Medium businesses for all Members, and reviewed the actions he would take to improve the focus on these commercial operators. He also talked about the need for verification of information notified by parties, citing subsidy notifications. He discussed the need to obtain greater liberalization in trade in services and spent some time on e-commerce/digital trade and reviewed how online trade can be helpful to better integrating women into trade. He also talked about the regional trade agreement among African countries and the use of plurilaterals where multilaterals are not presently doable.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria):
Bloomberg, Australia’s Gillard, Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala on Women in Leadership, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-09-24/gillard-okonjo-iweala-on-women-in-leadership-video.
H.E. Yoo Myung-hee (Republic of Korea):
Bloomberg, Korean Minister Vows to Revitalize WTO if Elected as Chief, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-09-25/korean-minister-vows-to-revitalize-wto-if-elected-as-chief-video.
The Rt Hon Dr. Liam Fox MP (United Kingdom):
Global Trade Review, September 24, Exclusive interview: Liam Fox talks WTO bid, calls his backing of Brexit a ‘red herring’, https://www.gtreview.com/news/global/exclusive-interview-liam-fox-talks-wto-bid-calls-his-backing-for-brexit-a-red-herring/.
CNBC Africa, September 25, 2020, UK’s Liam Fox Shares His Vision for Global Trade, https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/09/25/in-conversation-with-liam-fox-on-his-vision-for-global-trade/.