The Financial Times has reported that Liam Fox, a former UK trade secretary and a former defence secretary, will be put forward yet today by the United Kingdom as a candidate for the Director-General post of the World Trade Organization. SeeFinancial Times, July 8, 2020, UK set to nominate Liam Fox for top WTO job, https://www.ft.com/content/5f5d1d87-afc3-419f-b8fb-7dbd038c3163; see also New York Times, July 8, 2020, UK to Nominate Ex-Minister Liam Fox as WTO Boss: Spectator, https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/08/world/europe/08reuters-britain-wto-fox.html.
Mr. Fox will be the seventh candidate when his nomination is received and will be the first nomination from a developed country. He will join Jesus Seade (Mexico), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria), Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Yoo Myung-hhe (Republic of Korea), and Amb. Amina C. Mohamed (Kenya). The nominating period at the WTO for the Director-General comes to a close at the end of July 8.
Mr. Fox has spent a lot of time with both the United States and China according to press reports which presumably will be part of his message to WTO Members on why he could be an effective Director-General (in helping bridge differences between the two large WTO Members).
Mr. Fox is a Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016-2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. He is a member of the Conservative Party and voted for Brexit. Mr. Fox’s Wikipedia entry provides a listing of prior positions, his education, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Fox.
His biography as forwarded to the World Trade Organization was not yet posted as of 2:15 p.m. (Geneva time) on July 8.
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