WTO race comes down to Brazilian, Mexican
April 26, 2013 | 06:19 PM
Roberto Azevêdo, Heminio BlancoThe next director general of the World Trade Organization will be a Latin American.
After consultations at WTO headquarters in Geneva among ambassadors to the WTO this week, only two candidates remained in the race: Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil and Heminio Blanco of Mexico.
The consensus-building process is scheduled to be complete by May 31, three months before WTO Director General Pascal Lamy steps down.
Member country representatives signalled this week that three other candidates did not have enough support to continue: Mari Pangestu of Indonesia, Tim Groser of New Zealand and Bark Taeho of South Korea.
Pangestu’s elimination was particularly surprising, Inside U.S. Trade reported today. There were nine candidates when the race began last winter.
The European Union countries voted to advance both Azevêdo of Brazil and Blanco of Mexico. Now that only Latin Americans remain, the race will not be between regions of the world as initially expected, and the outcome may depend on which region of the world supports which candidate.
Brazil has worked a lot with countries in Africa, and Azevêdo is believed to have some strong support from there. But his candidacy could be hurt by the fact that another Brazilian, José Graziano da Silva, is director general of the World Trade Organization. Blanco is believed to have more support among the Asia-Pacific countries.
Whether the United States is playing a big role in selecting the candidate is unclear. Washington trade lawyer Terence Stewart said in an analysis posted on the firm web site today that he believes the United States could support either candidate.
Brazil’s Azevêdo and Mexico’s Blanco Move to the Final Round Of the WTO’s Selection Process for the Next Director-General
