What did the candidates say?

The race for the DG's position at the WTO is formally underway with the presentation and press conference made by the potential candidates in January 2013. The nominees currently vying for the WTO’s top post are Alan Kyerematen of Ghana; Anabel González of Costa Rica; Mari Elka Pangestu of Indonesia; Tim Groser of New Zealand; Amina Mohamed of Kenya; Ahmad Thougan Hindawi of Jordan; Herminio Blanco of Mexico; Taeho Bark of Korea; and Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo of Brazil. The WTO had a webcast of the press conferences here. Sofia Alicia Balino makes a succinct analysis of the positions taken by the 9 candidates on various issues here.

Some underlying themes expressed in the press conferences of the candidates were:

1. A belief in the multilateral institution and the faith that it can be relevant to the issues facing international trade

2. The need to address the issues stalling the Doha round of trade negotiations and to confront them with heterodox and innovative solutions

3. Ensure Bali leads to a positive outcome with successful results (mini-deals), which can be extended to the Doha round

4.Recognize the need for the WTO to grapple with 21st century trade issues in order not to lose its relevance

5. Ensure that the other functions of the WTO, including monitoring of trade agreements and dispute settlement are performed more effectively

6.They were candid enough to suggest that they did not have all the answers to the impasse but were optimistic of finding a solution 

The coming months will see more debate and hope for the multilateral institution's strength of being a "member-driven" organization with the candidates having to convince member countries about their candidacy. To what extent the selection would be based on credentials and realities of political economy is another debate!

Hat tip to Pradeep Mehta, CUTS for bringing my attention to Sofia's piece.

Live webcast of WTO DG candidates

Live webcasting of the press conferences of candidates for the WTO DGs post will be made available on the WTO website here on 29th, 30th and 31st of January 2013.

This is the first time all the candidates will be present at the same forum to espouse their candidature.

The Rushford Report on WTO elections

I found this interesting website by Greg Rushford called "The Rushford Report" which analyses the political underpinnings of many international economic law and policy developments. A great read!

The WTO DG's election is round the corner and many commentaries on the process and likely successor to Pascal Lamy have been written. I happened to find this piece (courtesy the IELP blog) titled "The WTO's "Dangerous" Election" (part 1 of a two-part series) on the WTO DG's election a storehouse of information written in an inimitable style (rarely found in literature related to international economic law and policy) on the candidates and the likely result of the DG election. Summarizing the nature of a WTO DG's election process well, it explains:

"Whatever they want, this WTO election sure is different than what many would consider a “normal” one. There won’t be public polls. No focus groups.  No campaign rallies. No television commercials. And there will never be a recorded vote. 

The candidates will present themselves to the WTO’s General Council in Geneva on Jan. 29, in public proceedings that will be broadcast on the Internet. They will take questions, drawn from a box at random. And then they will get on the road for the next couple months, making their cases to the usual suspects in various word capital cities: trade officials, political leaders, and — horrors, if the WTO’s pesky band of vociferous anti-trade activists gets wind of this! — even corporate lobbyists. Some of the latter, to be sure, will offer enlightened perspectives in the public interest of strengthening the WTO as an institution. Others will have parochial axes to grind. But all will know how to whisper in the ears of the mighty and good in world capital cities."

The next few months will see hectic "consensus" building over the future WTO chief. Considerations will range from qualifications to nationality of the candidates, including the political economy of trading relations. May the best candidate win.