WTO Profile: Anabel González, Costa Rico
January 30, 2013 | 03:54 PM Filed in: WTO Profiles
GENEVA — Anabel González, the Costa Rican foreign trade minister who headed the World Trade Organization’s agriculture division from 2006 to 2009, presented her credentials to the General Council and the media on Tuesday.
“I am proud of the opportunity I recently had to work as director of the agriculture division,” González said in her presentation to the General Council. “These were very intense years, bringing us closer than ever to reaching agreement on the modalities for agriculture.”
González said she is “cautiously optimistic” that the WTO will be able to “produce deliverables” at the meeting of trade ministers in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
She holds a master of law degree from Georgetown University and worked in various positions in the Costa Rican trade ministry before becoming minister.
“My own life span has coincided with the remarkable transformation of Costa Rica through its engagement with the world economy,” González said. “A country that not long ago exported just a few agricultural commodities today sells over 4,300 different products — including computer parts, heart valves, embedded software, and yes, coffee and bananas —to 145 countries worldwide.”
“No topic should be taboo" in the WTO, González said, alluding to tensions within the organization over whether it should stick to traditional trade issues or address a more diverse agenda. She said delegates should discuss the impact of global value chains in which parts of a good are produced in various countries, climate change and food security among other issues.
But González noted that some subjects might be only discussed and not become the subject of negotiations. A few years ago, she said that the question of whether the WTO and the International Labor Organization should conduct a joint study of trade and labor was controversial. The study was done, she noted, “but it has not evolved into a negotiating agenda.”
A similar topic, she added, is currency exchange rates. González said the WTO should discuss the subject, but said she would be cautious about solutions to problems of a financial nature.
González is one of three female candidates and three Latin American candidates.
As to competition with the candidates from Brazil and Mexico, González said her government had put her name forward due to her experience. The fact that Costa Rica is a small country, she said, has meant that she could help her relate to the delegates from the many other small countries that belong to the WTO.
“It could be a very good message if a female could become director-general. I am a strong supporter of diversity,” she said, adding that she wants a woman to get the top job at the WTO “not because of gender but because she would be best at doing the job.”
