WTO Candidate Says Countries Aren't So Far Apart on Appellate Body

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a long-time development economist and former finance and foreign minister in Nigeria, said that bringing back the appellate function at the World Trade Organization would be a top priority if she were chosen as the next director-general of the WTO. “You cannot have a rules-making organization where you do not have a forum where you can arbitrate disputes,” she told the Washington International Trade Association during a webinar July 21.

She said the complaints about the appellate body may be solved if taken one by one. She said she believes probably all countries can agree that the 90-day deadline to reach a decision ought to be honored. She said “all reasonable members” ought to agree that the appellate body should rule on law, not do fact-finding. And, she said, the membership agrees that the panels work well.

“Sometimes I’ve found countries are not as far away as we think,” Okonjo-Iweala said. She said the “Walker proposal” (see 1912240016) has nuggets in it “we can build on.” The question of self-certification of developing country status is an issue “that’s very delicate,” she said, since what she called “advanced developing countries” aren't willing to give it up. “Negotiation by negotiation, let’s see what capacity building they need,” she said. “I really believe the approach taken in the trade facilitation is a good one.”

She said if this problem could be solved, it would build trust between developed countries and developing countries. Okonjo-Iweala expressed concern about the move toward plurilateral negotiations at the WTO rather than universal negotiations.

She said some countries are reluctant to participate, “especially developing country members. They don’t even have the infrastructure and capacity to participate.” She said these countries feel that there's an asymmetry of information, and that while the WTO is not a grant-making institution, it needs to find out what is needed to get countries to overcome their reluctance to join these negotiations -- and aid for trade might be part of that.

Co-Moderator Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, asked Okonjo-Iweala if she thinks a carrot or stick approach would be more effective to get member countries to live up to the notification requirements that exist at the WTO.

“Why is there not compliance? Why is that not happening? And when you speak to many members, particularly from the developing countries and the least developing countries, you will understand it’s not a question of political will but a lack of resources,” Okonjo-Iweala said. She added that there may be other countries that are not complying that do have the capacity to do so, and why that's happening also needs to be understood.

“I’m more for a constructive approach, not a punitive approach,” she said. Some candidates for the director-general job have experience at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or WTO, and Okonjo-Iweala has never been a trade negotiator. She said having a fresh pair of eyes is an asset. “If we needed people with technical negotiating skills to solve the problems, these problems would have been solved,” she said.