Roberto Azevêdo announces early departure as WTO director

World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevêdo reported today (May 14) he will leave his post on August 31, cutting his tenure short a year. The announcement was made during an online meeting with all WTO members one day before the General Council was to convene.

In August, the Brazilian ambassador will have served as director-general of the organization for seven years. Azevêdo said the decision is a personal one and meets the best best interest of the organization in its process of overhaul. In his view, the organization should start building an agenda for the new post-pandemic reality with a new director-general.

According to the diplomat, WTO members will be able to choose his successor within the coming years without having to redirect political energy and attention from the preparations to the 12th ministerial conference, slated to take place in 2021. “Even though we have achieved much, there’s a lot to be done. We’ve set ambitious and transformative goals for this conference as well as for the reform of WTO. And now we must make sure that trade contributes to the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

To Azevêdo’s judgment, next year’s conference will be an exercise to guarantee that the organization continues to respond to the needs and priorities of member countries. “We know that the WTO can’t stand still while the outside world changes drastically. The ‘new normal’ emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic will have to reflect our work here,” he said. “The WTO may not be perfect, but it’s crucial. It’s what keeps us from having a world where jungle laws prevail, at least when it comes to commerce.”

The WTO started its operations on January 1, 1995, and has served as the main instance to administer the multilateral trade system. The organization aims to establish a common institutional milestone to regulate trade relations between its members and build a mechanism for the peaceful solution to commercial disputes based on deals currently in effect.

As it stands today, WTO has 164 members, with Brazil as one of its founders.