As the World Trade Organization starts the second round of consultations with Members today to continue to winnow down the list of candidates to move forward to the third round in mid-October, the likelihood of block preferences by countries within the EU and from Africa would seem to guarantee that the two candidates remaining at the end of the second round of consultations are two of the three women candidates — Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, H.E. Yoo Myung-hee of the Republic of Korea and H.E. Amina C. Mohamed of Kenya.
First, African Members of the WTO have been arguing since before the start of the selection process that it was time for a Director-General to be from Africa. With two of the five remaining candidates being from Africa, if African Members provide as their preferences the two remaining African candidates, those two candidate will have a large support base before one looks at the rest of the world. There are currently some 45 WTO Members from Africa. While it is always possible for Members from Africa to support only one of the two African candidates and to pick a second preference from outside of the continent, it is likely that most Members will provide both African candidates as preferences to improve the chances of an African candidate in fact being selected as the next Director-General.
Second, press articles in recent days have indicated that the 27 European Union countries had given their preferences for the same candidates in round one of the consultations and that had led to three of the four candidates they supported advancing — the three women candidates from Nigeria, Kenya and the Republic of Korea. They had not expressed preferences for either of the two male candidates who advanced, H.E. Mohammad Moziad Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia and the Rt Hon Dr. Liam Fox MP of the United Kingdom. While WTO Members are obviously not limited to prefer in later rounds individuals they expressed preferences for in earlier rounds, it is expected that the EU countries (with limited exceptions) will agree on two of the three women candidates for Round 2. This would be consistent with their apparent desire to see a candidate from a different geographical area than recent DGs and for a candiate who is female supporting gender equality objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There is one known likely exception to the EU expressing preferences as a block approach. Specifically, the press has indicated that Hungary intends to identify its preferences as H.E. Mohamed of Kenya and Dr. Fox of the United Kingdom.
It is expected that each of the women candidates will have reasonable support in other parts of the world as well. With Dr. Seade out of the running, the Americas has no geographic candidate and will certainly provide a fair portion of their preferences to one or two of the women candidates. Similarly, Asia and the Pacific will split preferences among the five remaining candidates ensuring some additional support for each of the women.
While H.E. Al-Tuwaijri and Dr. Fox will certainly receive support in round two of the consultations from a significant number of Members, if the EU and Africa vote largely in blocks, it is hard to imagine how either of them advances to the final round of consultations.
Depending on the block preference approach of Africa and the EU, the two candidates who advance will either be the two African candidates or one of the African candidates and the Korean trade minister.
My assumption is that the third round will be a face off between H.E. Mohamed and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala. We will know in early October.
Terence Stewart, former Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, and author of the blog, Current Thoughts on Trade.
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