A tight race to select a new director-general of the WTO has just been completed. Roberto Azevedo, current Brazilian ambassador to the WTO, has been tapped to succeed Pascal Lamy to lead the global trade organization from Sept. 1. Once final confirmation is given at the special meeting on May 14, which is almost certain, he will become the first WTO director general from Latin America.

Ambassador Azevedo is taking the helm of the WTO at the most critical moment for the trade organization. In Azevedo’s own words during the campaign: “We are, in my view, on the verge of losing a very valuable system.” The eyes of the governments of the 159 WTO members are all upon him now.

The root cause of the current risk the WTO faces runs deeper than it seems. It goes beyond mere discrepancies among members concerning market opening. These discrepancies may be ironed out ultimately with patent negotiators and with timely outside pressure.

But the present impasse stems from something more fundamental than that ― lack of trust among members. Without a strong trust in other members and their negotiators, the last thing one would expect in such a complex and volatile negotiation as a multilateral trade negotiation is the grand settlement of all outstanding issues, last achieved in December 1993.

In particular, the confrontation between the developed members and developing members has virtually derailed many key negotiations at the Doha Round. It comes as no surprise that Azevedo’s and other candidates’ platforms all underscored the importance of narrowing the gap between the views of the two competing groups of countries.

As the selection process is confidential, there is no way of confirming which country has supported whom, but the speculation has it that Azevedo’s selection has been largely supported by developing members while the United States and the EU, the two most influential members of the organization, favored his opponent, Mexico’s Herminio Blanco.

If the speculation holds true, even the director-general selection process has largely followed the dividing line. It is against this backdrop that many people are anxious to see how he will deliver his promise of bridging the gap between the developing and developed countries. Each group will be required to make concessions so as to reach a compromise, but again concessions are only feasible when there is trust.

During his campaign, Azevedo indicated that he would make efforts to address the structural problems facing the developing members of the WTO. One of the examples he suggested, as a long-time dispute settlement proceeding participant himself, is to make the WTO dispute settlement system more affordable and accessible to developing countries.

Suggestions like this have obviously helped him garner support from developing countries. The question now is how he will reflect the views of the developed members in addressing these structural issues and manages to find common ground for touchy and divisive topics.

A first test for his leadership comes just three months after his inauguration. The upcoming ministerial conference in Bali from Dec. 3-6 will be a difficult test for his leadership and his pledges. The outcome of the Bali ministerial meeting will significantly affect how WTO members and other watchers view the future of the WTO and the multilateral trading regime.

Solutions to detailed issues and negotiation topics can come later in time with more discussions and negotiations in 2014 and beyond, but what is critically urgent at the Bali Ministerial is to restore the trust of WTO members among each other.

So, this is the key task waiting for the new director general. At the moment, the expectation seems to be high that this well-known trade diplomat can breathe new life into the WTO. 

By Lee Jae-min

Lee Jae-min is a professor of law at the School of Law, Hanyang University, in Seoul. Formerly he practiced law as an associate attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. ― Ed.