WTO Profile: Amina C. Mohamed, Kenya
February 04, 2013 | 02:55 PM Filed in: WTO Profiles
Editor’s note: Today we continue bringing you profiles of the nine candidates to become the World Trade Organization’s next director-general. The candidates presented themselves to the WTO General Council and the media last week in Geneva. The profiles will continue this week.
Amina C. Mohamed (WTO/Studio Casagrande)
GENEVA — Kenyan diplomat Aminda Mohamed told journalists at the World Trade Organization last week that while her candidacy for director-general is not based on her being an African woman, “it would be a wonderful signal if the organization decided [to choose] a woman, an African woman … that Africa is doing well, [with] high growth and the leadership of an organization like this.”
Mohamed, assistant secretary general and deputy executive director of the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program, was Kenya’s ambassador to the WTO from 2000 to 2006 and chaired the General Council, the WTO’s governing body of Geneva-based country representatives, in 2005 when Pascal Lamy, the current director-general, was selected.
Even though she has since moved on, she said, “Trade was always my first priority. I think I can make a contribution.”
Mohamed faces an uphill battle because the African Union, an organization of African countries, has already endorsed Alan Kyerematen of Ghana. But Mohamed said she hopes to have “broad support beyond Africa.”
In her presentation to the General Council last week, Mohamed said that despite the lack of progress in the Doha Round she is “convinced that the multilateral trading system is structurally sound and in good shape.”
“Work in the regular bodies of the organization is ongoing,” she noted. “I am convinced that the Dispute Settlement Understanding is the most effective in public international law.”
But she said it is time to restructure and update it, since so much time has passed since the launch of the Doha Round in Qatar in 2001.
“We need to refocus it to recovery and growth, targeting issues that can contribute to rapid growth, such as trade facilitation and reduction of non-tariff barriers, to address the recession and weak growth arising from economic crises,” Mohamed said.
Trade ministers who gathered on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last month endorsed the idea of reaching an agreement on trade facilitation, the movement of goods at borders, by the December ministerial meeting in Bali, and Mohamed endorsed that idea.
“The arguments in favor of trade facilitation are overwhelming,” she said.
“The average cost of moving trade through borders worldwide is 10 percent. The average trade weighted tariff worldwide is 5 percent,” Mohamed said.
“Currently, therefore, one has to pay twice as much in administrative operations in order to move merchandise through borders than one has in customs tariffs. It is worse for landlocked economies. The solution is to smoothen border crossing, eliminate road blocks and red-tape associated with inspections, and streamline customs.”
The WTO has a major role to play in achieving global food security, she said, through “improved disciplines on subsidies, reductions in tariff peaks and escalation, tighter disciplines on export restrictions, and improved coherence” by working with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
But she added “The primary responsibility lies with national governments to create the right policy environment for improved investments in agriculture for greater productivity.”
The WTO could address climate change, she said, if it would “build on and strengthen the list of environmental goods proposed at the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Vladivostok Summit for further liberalization.”
In services trade, she said, negotiators should focus on “drivers of growth and transformation, namely, financial services, information and communications technology, transport and logistics services, and those services sectors that bolster production such as research and development, engineering, distribution and marketing.”
The commitment to finishing the Doha Round as “a single undertaking” has “merits,” she said, but with the WTO membership growing and becoming more diverse, “I am convinced that more flexible negotiating approaches and modalities may be required.”
“We have to change the method of negotiation in light of the size and diversity of today’s WTO membership,” Mohamed said.
She added that the political guidance by ministers during the MC-8 meeting provides some basis on how to address some of the issues.
On cotton, she said, “Important gains have been registered on Cotton Development Assistance, within the framework of the Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton. We should continue to build on these, to which both the donors and developing countries have contributed.”
Mohamed said that if she is selected as director-general she intends to establish a WTO business advisory council.
The absence of a commercial push has been a source of weakness for the WTO, she said, affecting its credibility and relevance as an engine of global economic recovery and growth.
“Without the support and impetus of business, there will be minimal progress in the WTO,” Mohamed said. “The Accessions of China and the Russian Federation bear testimony. I will be a pro-business director-general.”
GENEVA — Kenyan diplomat Aminda Mohamed told journalists at the World Trade Organization last week that while her candidacy for director-general is not based on her being an African woman, “it would be a wonderful signal if the organization decided [to choose] a woman, an African woman … that Africa is doing well, [with] high growth and the leadership of an organization like this.”
Mohamed, assistant secretary general and deputy executive director of the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program, was Kenya’s ambassador to the WTO from 2000 to 2006 and chaired the General Council, the WTO’s governing body of Geneva-based country representatives, in 2005 when Pascal Lamy, the current director-general, was selected.
Even though she has since moved on, she said, “Trade was always my first priority. I think I can make a contribution.”
Mohamed faces an uphill battle because the African Union, an organization of African countries, has already endorsed Alan Kyerematen of Ghana. But Mohamed said she hopes to have “broad support beyond Africa.”
In her presentation to the General Council last week, Mohamed said that despite the lack of progress in the Doha Round she is “convinced that the multilateral trading system is structurally sound and in good shape.”
“Work in the regular bodies of the organization is ongoing,” she noted. “I am convinced that the Dispute Settlement Understanding is the most effective in public international law.”
But she said it is time to restructure and update it, since so much time has passed since the launch of the Doha Round in Qatar in 2001.
“We need to refocus it to recovery and growth, targeting issues that can contribute to rapid growth, such as trade facilitation and reduction of non-tariff barriers, to address the recession and weak growth arising from economic crises,” Mohamed said.
Trade ministers who gathered on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last month endorsed the idea of reaching an agreement on trade facilitation, the movement of goods at borders, by the December ministerial meeting in Bali, and Mohamed endorsed that idea.
“The arguments in favor of trade facilitation are overwhelming,” she said.
“The average cost of moving trade through borders worldwide is 10 percent. The average trade weighted tariff worldwide is 5 percent,” Mohamed said.
“Currently, therefore, one has to pay twice as much in administrative operations in order to move merchandise through borders than one has in customs tariffs. It is worse for landlocked economies. The solution is to smoothen border crossing, eliminate road blocks and red-tape associated with inspections, and streamline customs.”
The WTO has a major role to play in achieving global food security, she said, through “improved disciplines on subsidies, reductions in tariff peaks and escalation, tighter disciplines on export restrictions, and improved coherence” by working with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
But she added “The primary responsibility lies with national governments to create the right policy environment for improved investments in agriculture for greater productivity.”
The WTO could address climate change, she said, if it would “build on and strengthen the list of environmental goods proposed at the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Vladivostok Summit for further liberalization.”
In services trade, she said, negotiators should focus on “drivers of growth and transformation, namely, financial services, information and communications technology, transport and logistics services, and those services sectors that bolster production such as research and development, engineering, distribution and marketing.”
The commitment to finishing the Doha Round as “a single undertaking” has “merits,” she said, but with the WTO membership growing and becoming more diverse, “I am convinced that more flexible negotiating approaches and modalities may be required.”
“We have to change the method of negotiation in light of the size and diversity of today’s WTO membership,” Mohamed said.
She added that the political guidance by ministers during the MC-8 meeting provides some basis on how to address some of the issues.
On cotton, she said, “Important gains have been registered on Cotton Development Assistance, within the framework of the Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton. We should continue to build on these, to which both the donors and developing countries have contributed.”
Mohamed said that if she is selected as director-general she intends to establish a WTO business advisory council.
The absence of a commercial push has been a source of weakness for the WTO, she said, affecting its credibility and relevance as an engine of global economic recovery and growth.
“Without the support and impetus of business, there will be minimal progress in the WTO,” Mohamed said. “The Accessions of China and the Russian Federation bear testimony. I will be a pro-business director-general.”
