"It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on Nov. 9," General Council Chair David Walker of New Zealand said in a written statement to all members.
"I am therefore postponing this meeting until further notice during which period I will continue to undertake consultations with delegations," Walker added.
On Oct. 28, Walker told WTO members at a Heads-of-Delegation meeting that based on their consultations with all delegations, the candidate best poised to attain consensus and become the new Director-General was Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria.
"She clearly carried the largest support by members in the final round and she clearly enjoyed broad support from members from all levels of development and all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process," Walker said.
He added that a formal decision had to be taken by the members at a General Council meeting, originally scheduled for Nov. 9.
But the assessment was challenged by the United States, which said it would continue to support South Korea's Minister for Trade Yoo Myung-hee and could not back the candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala.
Since early October, Okonjo-Iweala had been facing off against Yoo in the final round of race to become the new director-general of WTO. If selected, Okonjo-Iweala would become the first woman and African to head the global trade watchdog in its 25-year history.
The WTO's leadership vacuum was created after its former chief Roberto Azevedo stepped down on Aug. 31, a year before the end of his official term. The organization is currently being steered by four deputies.
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L’OMC a reporté sans grande surprise sa réunion de lundi au cours de laquelle ses membres devaient tenter de s’entendre sur le nom d’un nouveau directeur général, mais avec peu d’espoir d’aboutir en raison du blocage des Etats-Unis...
ReplyDeleteCes derniers jours, des voix s’étaient élevées pour demander ce report, nombre d’entre elles estimant que les membres de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce avaient peu d’espoir de s’entendre tant que la Maison Blanche restait occupée par Donald Trump, critique virulent de l’organisation.
Le président du comité de sélection a fini par se ranger à cet avis, affirmant que pour "des raisons incluant la situation sanitaire et les événements actuels, les délégations ne seront pas en mesure de prendre une décision formelle le 9 novembre" et reportant la réunion "jusqu’à nouvel ordre", selon un document obtenu par l’AFP puis confirmé par l’OMC.
"C’est une bonne chose", a réagi auprès de l’AFP un diplomate européen en poste à Genève.