Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, the Saudi who wants to lead world trade
The WTO (World Health Organization) is going through one of the worst crises in its history. Donald Trump has blocked the election of the American members of the organism and the organization has been left without real capacity to fix a common position. In this circumstance we must add the resignation of Roberto Azevedo as director general a few weeks ago. Although Azevedo himself had warned that he would leave his post before the end of his mandate, the blow to the organization has been strong and now he is aimless. There is no shortage of candidates to succeed the Brazilian.
There are eight: three Africans, two Europeans, two Asians and one Latin American. But international tensions and the growing politicization of elections at the head of international organizations could complicate the process of appointing the new director general. Among them is Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, former Saudi minister of economy and planning. He is also a former fighter pilot and banker. His vision of the WTO is pragmatic and he advocates for the leading role of the WTO in international negotiations and new trade agreements.
At the first press conference Al-Tuwaijri held as a candidate, he explained the need to take the WTO reins again and "get it flying in the right direction," alluding to his past as a career pilot. During that meeting, he assured that the current crisis is an opportunity for the reform of the institution. "People bring out the best in themselves during crises", he assures in declarations collected by Arab News. "The world has changed significantly in the last decade, especially in recent years. I think the biggest problem facing the WTO today is protectionism," he has explained on other occasions.
The greatest attacks against the organization have come from U.S. President Donald Trump. His administration has blocked the appointment of two of his new appellate body members, taking away the WTO's de facto ability to speak out and establish a common position. One of the last major failures of the WTO, which al-Tuwaijri will have to address, is the U.S.-China trade war. Both economies are estimated to have lost billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs. Al-Tuwaijri has advocated providing more information and transparency to the organization's own members and has stressed the need to provide members with a platform from which they can feel safe to negotiate. "Countries have to be satisfied, and if the process breaks down, solutions have to be sought outside," he said.
On this point, the vision of Egyptian Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh is another candidate for the post of director general of the WTO, and he has stated that his priority, if elected, would be to rebuild the negotiating function of the body, which has failed to achieve major trade agreements among its members for almost a decade. "We need to work together, with less politicization, in a less emotional way and with more confidence," stressed the Egyptian lawyer in a press conference to explain the reasons for his candidacy.
Mamdouh presents as one of his main guarantees his long experience in the WTO, since he worked almost 35 years in this organism and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), participating actively in the Uruguay Round, the negotiation that meant the transition from one to the other. "The director general is not a traditional executive position, his main role is that of a mediator, a bridge builder, and for that he must have a deep knowledge of the WTO and experience in how the international trade system works," he argued. The Egyptian candidate stressed that the current blockage of the WTO, both in trade negotiations and in its dispute resolution system, shows the need to reform the body, which would mean "not changing the institution, but the treaty signed between its members as sovereign countries.
Azevedo has led initiatives within the WTO on issues related to gender, labor and sexual harassment or abuses of power. He has also opened the organization to the private sector for new ideas. As of Monday, the WTO is in the hands of four Deputy Directors-General, who will be responsible for decisions in their respective areas until a Director-General is elected. The election of the next director must be made before November 7.
The future head of the WTO will face major challenges such as the preparation of the 2021 ministerial conference, the revival of negotiations and the resolution of conflicts between the organization and the United States. All of this is in the midst of the global economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington considers that the WTO has treated the United States "unfairly" and has threatened to abandon the organization. It wants it to be renewed and since December it has been blocking the court of appeals of its dispute settlement body.
"The United States wants the next director-general to share American concerns, many of which concern China. Since the director general is elected by consensus, this firm position complicates the selection," explains Manfred Elsig, professor of international relations at the World Trade Institute in Berne, in statements collected by the AFP agency. "Many WTO members may want to wait until after the elections, hoping for a change of government," he estimates.
