WTO Director-General nominee says all countries must have a voice
One nominee for the Director-General post at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), says that should he succeed the current Director-General Roberto Azevedo, he is prepared to lead the charge of reshaping the international body.
Dr. Liam Fox, who was nominated by the United Kingdom (UK), said his experience reforming and reshaping the UK’s Ministry of Defence when it faced financial and manpower difficulties, puts him in a good position to do the same with the WTO and ensure that every country can have its voice heard. His comments came during a virtual press briefing yesterday to speak more to his campaign.
“I have been setting out ways that we can use the Deputy DGs [Directors-General] better so that they all have countries that they are accountable for, and every country therefore knows which [Deputy] DG to go to if they’ve got an idea or issue they want to raise, that doesn’t automatically fall into the committee system that we have,” he said.
Fox, a former UK Secretary of State for International Trade, also believes that WTO Member Countries need to be treated differently. He is therefore advocating for them to be thought of “functionally”, such that like economies, are linked together.
“Barbados is a good example, because it would have a lot more in common with island economies in the Pacific or Indian Ocean than it might have with some of the bigger continental neighbours. So I think we need to look at those countries that have a commonality. I think we need to look at landlocked countries that are likely to have the same problems, whether they are in Central Asia, or Africa, or South America, thinking differently about those countries and using data better to help them,” the UK national stated.
With that in mind, Fox said he is astounded that in terms of trade preferences and other systems, annualised GDP per capita is used as the measurement for countries, whether they are medium or low income.
“...We use annualised data when you can be a medium income economy [country] the day before your hurricane, and a very poor country the day after your hurricane. I am very keen that we use weighted data, rolling five-year data that enables us to dampen down those highs and lows, because it makes governance better, it makes investment more attractive and it stops oscillation between different levels of trade preference,” the UK national stated.
He is insistent that such an approach is quite important for small and vulnerable economies. Fox made the point while reflecting on the current active hurricane season, which has exhausted the allotted names for storms and has had to start utilising the Greek alphabet.
“I think that with the increased number of hurricanes for example, and an increase in climate related events, we really do need to pay attention to that group of our members,” he maintained. (JRT)