Industry·Finance: Economy: News: Hankyoreh

In the election of the Secretary General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Yu Myung-hee, head of the Trade and Bargaining Headquarters of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea and former Nigerian Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, Ngoji Okonjoyweala, respectively, in Geneva, Switzerland on July 15-16. The appearance at the time of running for a press conference. yunhap news

Myung-hee Myung-hee (53), head of the commerce and bargaining headquarters, resigned as the next secretary-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the 5th, as candidate Okonjoyweala (66, Nigeria), who was coagulated last fall, was pushed by a large margin in the final preference survey. It has already been predicted to some extent. One of the factors that Yoo ended up in the final decision between the two sides was the “regionalism and connectionism” voting behavior that went wide between 164 WTO member states. Although the other candidate was a very powerful’political heavyweight’ figure in the international community, so that he worked for the World Bank (WB) for 25 years and served as the vice governor, Director Yoo also has a strong trade expertise as an incumbent Minister of Trade and a position of’K-Defense’. There was contention. However, even though we intensively persuaded the European Union (the EU, 27 countries), which had the strongest influence in the election of the secretary-general and exercised’the power to elect the president,’ “Let’s not fight ugly regional groups,” this’continent· In the end, he couldn’t cross the barrier of’regional voting’ and had to swallow the bunru. In particular, amid regionalist voting trends,’Asian countries’ China and Japan declared their support for the Nigerian candidate from the start of the election, as well as a move to act against Yu Myung-hee.

The procedure for the election of the next secretary-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO, Geneva, Switzerland), which began on June 8 (candidate registration started), ended a five-month long journey. Korea has challenged the WTO Secretary General three times so far. In 1994, Minister of Commerce and Industry Kim Chul-soo ran for the final election and failed, but instead served as deputy secretary general. In 2012, Park Tae-ho, head of the trade and negotiation headquarters, advanced to the second round, but did not reach the final final. Unfortunately, I also failed in this challenge. On September 18th, it wasn’t surprising that when Yoo headquartered in 5 out of 8 candidates and advanced to the 2nd round. It was already observed that the five people would be included. However, on October 8th, it has changed markedly after advancing to the 3rd round compressed with two finalists. There was an expectation and excitement that a truly miraculous reversal could happen. If Director Yoo presses Ngoji Okonjoyweala, the excitement and tension that the Korean economy, which has grown through trade and trade for the past 50 years, will achieve a great achievement, spread both inside and outside the government. The Blue House and the government started to collaborate and support by operating the “Pan-Government Task Force” (TF, team leader Kim Sang-jo, Blue House Policy Officer) to elect President Myung-hee Myung-hee, and by putting all possible mobilization opportunities and resources in full force. President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Assembly Chairman Park Byeong-suk, all in all directions, held an all-out war asking foreign ministers of foreign affairs and trade around the world for the final support and persuasion of Director Yoo. In particular, President Moon Jae-in conducted a breathtaking’normal diplomacy’ while virtually leading this election. Just before the end of the election schedule (October 27), for a week, he held an all-out war with the leaders of 10 countries, including India, Denmark, Luxembourg, Italy, Egypt, Australia, Brazil, and Malaysia, by phone. Since China, Japan and Africa have already expressed their support for Nigeria, they have strategically persuaded and negotiated targeting South American, European and Asian countries that are friendly to us. Earlier in the second round, President Moon sent a letter to 35 countries urging him to support President Yoo and made a phone call with the leaders of five countries, including Germany and Russia. In the first place, it was expected that President Moon would go to the final finals at the end of the day, but he was active from the second round, which was compressed into two finalists. According to the Blue House’s explanation, it was President Moon Jae-in who first strongly expressed the will to make a candidate for our country in this secretary-general election. Even within the European Union, Germany was the one who was holding on to who would decide the preferred candidate. President Moon had repeatedly called for the support of General Manager Yu by phone calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Headquarters Yoo himself also made a’struggle’ while overcoming the inferiority of international recognition and recognition. As the incumbent trade minister (the vice-minister-level head of the commerce and bargaining headquarters, but externally at the ministerial level), he has been compulsory for four months since the beginning of the election procedure (July 8) in order to meet the election schedule in the midst of performing his usual duties. Headquarters Yoo has visited the United States, Europe (UK, Sweden, Belgium, etc.) and Geneva four times in succession during the election of the first to third rounds since he was nominated for the run in June. While contacting and interviewing the organization’s ambassadors one by one, he asked for support, emphasizing “realization of WTO reform based on trade expertise”. After graduating from Seoul National University’s English department and passing the administrative exam (35 times), Director Yoo, the head of the department, first worked as a secretary was the World Trade Organization Department. In spite of the fact that Director Yoo said, “Through the difficult conditions, propaganda and struggle” (Cheongwadae and the government), this election campaign is a’continental/regional ties’, which votes for candidates who are geographically and historically closer than people in every 164 member states. Attention gathering’ behavior was clear. The 164 members of the WTO are 44 countries in Africa, 37 countries in Europe, 49 countries in Asia and the Pacific, 31 countries in Latin America, and 3 countries in North America. The European Union (the EU, 27 countries, and a joint single preferred candidate), which has led the World Trade Organization since its infancy and had a strong influence, was originally two African candidates geographically and historically close to them as the third finalists (2). There was also a movement to present Nigeria and Kenya) as a preferred candidate. However, due to the fact that Kenya’s candidate was pushed out of the European Union and President Yoo was chosen, we always told the European Union, “I know that Europe is close to Africa. If even the European member states simply show a supportive attitude based on regional and historical ties, Europe is inevitable in this time to reform the WTO in crisis and restore the multilateral trading system. It was evaluated that the intensive persuasion was effective, saying, “Let’s not fight ugly local groups for strength.” However, in the final election decision, it is evaluated that the game was decided when the major European Union powers, including Germany, chose Okonjoyweala instead of Yu Myung-hee. Before the start of this election, the Blue House and the government repeatedly reviewed which of the two presidents Yoo and Kim Hyun-jong, the second deputy head of the Blue House National Security Office, but decided that Director Yoo was challenging. In terms of awareness and reputation, Director Yoo may be considered to be low, but it is appealing that he is the only’current trade minister’ among the candidates in eight countries. Above all, he is the former Vice President of the World Bank Okonjoyweala, and is the’heavyweight of international trade’. This is because Amina Mohamed (Kenya), a former WTO Ministerial Council chairman, who is called as a candidate, decided that the’women’s secretary general’ theory became a trend within and outside the WTO. As expected, this election was held in the form of a’three women’s war’ including General Manager Yoo, Okojoyweala, and Mohamed.

In the final round, it is said that opinions were divided among the member states as to which of the two factors to be weighed: Yoo’s expertise in the trade field and Okonjoyweala’s political capacity. As the incumbent Minister of Trade, Mr. Yoo has a strong foundation of mutual trust and support that we have built upon signing free trade agreements (FTAs) with many middle-powered countries, and the other candidate is a world that helps the economic development of the third world and developing countries. Based on his political history of working at a bank for 25 years (as vice governor), he has built friendships and contacts with the cabinet members of various developing countries. These two merits confronted each other, but as Director Yoo, it was evaluated that it was difficult to overcome the limitations of regionalist voting in the geographical distribution of 164 countries. In this election, talks of the lack of’diplomatic approach strategies and efforts’ beyond trade and trade also flow. It is said that there was also a sign of skepticism within the government when Yoo was running. One economic official said, “At first, the diplomatic side said that the chances of winning were low,” and another high-ranking official said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should actively step forward… “” The atmosphere changed markedly when President Moon directly led the election from the middle of the election, and when Director Yoo headed for the final final. There are reports from foreign media that Japan has taken nasty actions to put down the head of the headquarters, but it is realistic to see that it was difficult for Japan to have a decisive influence in the election of the president in terms of the method of election and composition.

Looking at the former WTO secretary-generals, developed and developing countries have taken over. Even before the elections began, the theory that “this time it is the turn of the African region” spread in and out of Geneva. 1st Peter Sutherland (1993-1995, Ireland), 2nd Renato Luziero (1995-1999, Italy), 3rd Mike Moore (1999-2002, New Zealand), 4th Supachai Panichipakdi (2002-2005) Year·Thailand), 5th to 6th generation Pascal Rami (2005~2013·France), 7th~8th generation Roberto Azevedo (2013~2020, Brazil, resigning midway ahead of the remaining term of 1 year). This election was held when former secretary-general Roberto Azevedo suddenly resigned halfway after leaving his tenure of office for a year, and the “president’s absence” occurred. WTO negotiations for the Doha Development Agenda (DDA, Doha Round), a new trade liberalization negotiation, began in 2001, but in fact, they were stranded and the theory of organizational uselessness emerged for a long time and is in the midst of chaos. In general, it is common for large powers to openly ignore free trade norms. The ship was drifting and sinking, but the captain ran away and the election was held. All of the candidates for the presidential office cried out with Ilsung, “I will save the WTO,” and Director Yoo also said, “It is an emergency state with the fate of the WTO. “Please choose Myung-hee Myeong-hee for the survival and restoration of the free and open trade and multilateral trade system.” Following the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which was born in the Bretton Woods system immediately after World War II, the WTO (1995), which was launched as the fruit of the Uruguay Round (UR) negotiations, is another international organization such as the United Nations (UN). Compared to that, the secretary-general has less authority, and 164 individual member states’ ambassadors to Geneva cooperate and conflict with each other and move and lead together. The president’s term of office is 4 years and the annual salary is known to be about 200 million won. By Jo Gye-wan, staff reporter [email protected]