JOB/GC/236  
 
24 July 2020  
(20-5126) Page: 1/5 
General Council  Original: English  
 
 
GENERAL COUNCIL - 15, 16 AND 17 JULY 202 0 
APPOINTMENT OF THE N EXT DIRECTOR -GENERAL  - MEETING WITH THE CANDIDATES  
_______________  
PRESENTATION TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF T HE WORLD TRADE ORGAN IZATION BY 
AMBASSADOR  TUDOR ULIANOVSCHI  
16 JULY 2020  
Ambassadors, delegates, members of the Secretariat,  
 
It's good to be back in Geneva and see so many familiar and friendly faces. Many of you kn ow me 
as the Moldovan Ambassador to the WTO, others may know me as Moldova 's Foreign Minister. But 
all of you know me as a firm believer in the multilateral trading system and a person fully committed 
to the work and objectives of the WTO.  
 
I have a diplom atic and political career of over 16 years. This experience helped me develop a 
particular set of professional skills and networking, which I believe make me suitable for this job.  
 
Throughout my diplomatic career, I have participated in negotiations on bi lateral, regional and 
multilateral levels with countries from all of the continents. I have always advocated for free, fair, 
inclusive and transparent trade.  
 
What I bring to the table is my political experience as a Minister and my diplomatic and negotiat ing 
experience as an Ambassador to the WTO.  
 
For my role as the future DG of the WTO, I bring a 3D vision and approach:  
 
First D  is Direct Access to Ministers and political decision makers – in my capacity as a recent 
Minister dealing with Ministers.  
 
Second D  is Dialogue and discussions with Geneva based Ambassadors – in my capacity as former 
Ambassador to the WTO – I was in your shoes and fully understand the process of work, its 
challenges and the potential efficient and effective solutions .  
 
Third D is Driving the work of the WTO Management and Secretariat, so it can better and more 
efficiently serve Members ' needs and continue bringing its contribution to a better system for all 
Members.  
 
The experience of working shoulder to shoulder with you, as  the Moldovan Ambassador in Geneva, 
has allowed me to gain sound knowledge on the current negotiations in the WTO, their challenges 
and opportunities. This understanding of the issues will further enhance my convincing capacity 
when dealing with Ministers,  with a view to reach political decisions.  
 
While in Geneva, I was also involved directly in consensus -building during negotiations as chair of 
various United Nations and WTO bodies, including Chair of the Balance of Payments Committee of 
the WTO.  JOB/GC/236  
 
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As President of the Trade and Development Board, the highest -level body of UNCTAD, I led 
negotiations on revitalizing the intergovernmental pillar of UNCTAD within the broader UN reform 
process, with a view to bridging the developmental gap.  
 
I had also the privilege  to be involved as one of the 4 Geneva based facilitators for the negotiation 
of the MC11 Ministerial Declaration. Back in 2017, before MC11, and after, I was also an active 
supporter, like many of you, of a multitude of new initiatives which later  contributed to the 
reinvigoration of various group discussions and negotiations within this house.  
 
In these experiences, I have developed a network of decision makers from the technical to the high 
political level, having earned the reputation of a credi ble negotiator, capable of technical negotiations 
and political talks, with a view to identifying creative solutions for consensus building and being 
result -oriented.  
 
We are all witnesses of the fact that the WTO is facing unprecedented challenging times being at the 
cross-roads.  
 
The system requires a fresh/new, innovative, pragmatic, pro -active approach from Members, 
supported by a strong political will together with the relevant expertise, with a view to being able to 
strengthen the system, by 1) reinvigorating the negotiations within the multilateral trading system 
as to achieve new meaningful outcomes, 2) safeguarding and improving the WTO's two-tiered  
dispute settlement system 3) improving compliance with notifications obligations, as well as in 
general, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the WTO's monitoring and transparency 
function.  
 
All of the Members agree that we need the WTO and all of us agree that efforts must be taken to 
ensure that this organization remains reliable, relevant, re sponsive and able to deliver the expected 
outcomes for the benefits of all.  
 
In this context, Members collective efforts must be oriented as to support the system and find 
common ground and necessary flexibilities in order to overcome the current difficul ties and work 
together on the relevant reformation of the WTO.  
 
I believe that doing nothing or staying passive is not an option and the risk of not acting is not for 
the WTO itself, but it is for its Members and billions of people, who deserve to continue  developing, 
benefiting from open markets and trade.  
 
The WTO is one of the most complex organizations in the world today, and it 's one of the most 
needed as to ensure open, predictable, inclusive, rule based multilateral trading system, as well as 
- to ad dress global inequalities and bridge the gap between the least developed, developing and 
developed countries.  
 
Everyone can be great because everyone can serve for a better system but serving and leading have 
a different approach especially when it comes to the tangible and concrete results.  
 
Leading and serving for concrete results require a political experience and strong skills of an efficient 
facilitator who can rapidly build bridges and lead toward a win -win solution for all the parties 
involved.  
 
Leading the most important organization i n the trade field in an era of a global economic and 
pandemic crisis would be a very daunting task for anyone, it has several important current issues 
and opportunities that need to be dealt with head -on political level discussions, using existing 
expertis e and combining it with new and innovative approaches.  
 
What can be measured can be managed. If you try to solve all world 's problems in one take it will 
less likely work.  
 
That is why, the future Director General needs to take action with a view to brin ging Members to 
the negotiating table, with the goal of focusing on achieving results and score some important wins 
- for the credibility of the negotiation function of this organization and re -create an atmosphere of 
trust among Members.  JOB/GC/236  
 
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STRATEGIC VISION  AND STEPS  
WTO is a member -driven organization where decisions on rulemaking and implementation have to 
be made by the Members. However, in order to make progress there is a need to have a viable 
forum for negotiations where Members can meet to discuss and  reach consensus. On a more 
conceptual level, we need to think of modernizing the global trade agenda, upgrade it so it responds 
better and faster to 21th century challenges.  
 
At the strategic level, the future Director General should bear in mind four str ategic priorities:  
 
1. Engage in every effort to stop any deterioration or decline of the multilateral trading system;  
2. Focus on smaller, incremental gains;  
3. Get negotiations started again in the WTO;  
4. Bring members together and come up with a long -term vision f or the WTO.  
 
In terms of immediate priorities for the future Director General of the WTO, the following should be 
considered (including in the preparation process for MC12):  
 
1. Efforts to reactivate the Appellate Body, to ensure a prompt resolution of trade disputes;  
2. Build upon the progress achieved already on the fisheries subsidies negotiations and 
strongly support Members to achieve a negotiated text by MC12;  
3. Facilitating dialogue with Members regarding on -going negotiations on the remaining and 
other important issues.  
4. Further encouraging and supporting discussions on new and existing Joint Initiatives, 
particularly: on Electronic  Commerce, Investment Facilitation for Development, Domestic 
Services Regulation, as well as the dialogs of the informal gr oup on MSME s and SMEs and 
others.  
5. Promoting negotiations of new commercial disciplines and address issues of the digital 
environment and new areas of intellectual property.  
6. Dealing with the trade -environment nexus, including by supporting Members efforts  and 
discussions to create a circular economy, addressing  plastic pollution and other various 
trade and environment initiatives.  
7. Ensuring further  promotion of transparency and necessity of withdrawal (as soon as feasible 
and possible) of trade restrictive measures imposed in the context of COVID -19. Seeking 
ways and examining roles of existent programs (Aid for Trade, Enhanced Integrated 
Framework,  the International Trade Centre, the Standards and Trade Development Facility) 
in supporting post pandemic economic recovery of some of the developing and least -
developed countries.  
8. Promotion of the transparency principle and the importance of compliance w ith notification 
obligations.  
 
Dispute Settlement  
The reform of the dispute settlement mechanism and particularly the reform of the Appellate Body 
will be one of the main priorities for the next Director General. This process needs to be open, 
inclusive an d constructive. We need to find a way for all members to accept a two -step binding 
independent Dispute Settlement system.  
 
I believe that the issues and concerns were clarified by the members already and now they have to 
be addressed.  
 
I am aware of the on-going consultations on this important matter among the Members. In my 
opinion, there is a general common understanding on fundamentals of the DSU, which is already a 
good start.  
 
The least a DG can do is to facilitate discussions among Members to agree together on how to move 
forward and eventually agree on a roadmap and mechanisms – "agree on how to agree " on this 
sensitive but crucial issue and devise a process of further engagement to reach an acceptable 
solution.  
 JOB/GC/236  
 
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  COVID -19 
We understand that the COVI D-19 pandemic  had, has and continues  to have a negative impact on 
citizens across all parts of the world and all sectors of the economy: demand has dropped, supply 
chains were disrupted, investments are put on hold. There are certainly lessons to be learne d from 
this unprecedented situation. But one thing is clear: COVID -19 has highlighted the 
interconnectedness of global economies, trade and societies.  
 
In the context of the COVID -19 pandemic, transparent, efficient information -sharing is crucial for 
traders and governments  and as I have seen during current pandemic - WTO Members, with the 
assistance of the Secretariat, reacted promptly by commendably notifying  the export restricting 
measures imposed in the context of pandemic, as well as by joining a series of initiatives supporting 
open and predictable, non -distorted, facilitated trade (including in agri -food products and medical 
supplies), well -functioning of  supply chains, statements highlighting the importance of MSMEs in 
these unprecedented times, on the facilitation of the flow of goods and services as well as the 
essential movement of people, etc.  
  
I believe that providing timely transparency with respe ct to trade and trade -related measures taken 
or withdrawn in the context of the COVID -19 crisis was of critical importance and relevance. 
Members need to seek further  monitorization of these measures on an ad hoc basis, stressing  that 
trade restrictive eme rgency measures aimed at protecting health, shall be imposed only if deemed 
necessary ... and these  shall be targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary, not create 
unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains, and be consisten t with WTO 
rules. In the same time , it's necessary to continue to advocate for withdrawal of such measures as 
soon as situation improves.  
 
In the same context, the WTO should continue to join efforts of international organizations as WB, 
IMF, OECD, FAO, WF P, WHO to analyze the impacts of COVID -19 on global agricultural supplies, 
distribution chains and agri -food production and trade, as well as on seeking ways and examining 
roles of programs in supporting economic recovery, particularly  of the developing an d least -
developed countries.  
 
Digital trade  has proven to be a critical issue in the current crisis and its development would 
contribute to building resilience and crisis response in the future. In this process we have to be fully 
aware of the issue of cap acity and we need to make sure that this process should be inclusive. 
However, I do believe that WTO should be modernized in the digital world.  
 
International rulemaking through the WTO on e -commerce cannot wait any longer.  Digital 
transformation became a  necessity following COVID 's wake up call.  
 
It's also important to be fully aware and correctly  assess the preparedness of the Least -developed 
countries and developing countries and their needs in this process, with a view to provide targeted 
assistance to  build capacity and assist countries to fully integrate into the global trading system.  
 
Functioning and Management of the WTO  
Let me now turn briefly to the fact that the Director General is the chief manager of the Organization 
and in this capacity , I would always be a promoter of competence and rewarding merit.  
 
Additionally, as member of International Gender Champions, I am a strong proponent of women 
empowerment and if I have the honor to be your DG, I will openly and sincerely  encourage gender 
diversification, including at the level of DDGs, with high professional credentials.  
 
I was fortunate to get to know first -hand the workings of the Secretariat of the WTO and, most 
importantly, to appreciate the professionalism, expertise and dedica tion of this cadre of public 
servants. It would be a great honor to lead this remarkable group of people in a new capacity, while 
making sure that this very high caliber group of professionals remains motivated and engaged in 
serving Members.  
 
To conclude,  there were always big expectations for the WTO to deliver, which became even more 
nuanced in the context of the negative consequences of the global pandemic and economic crisis.  
 JOB/GC/236  
 
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  That is why, MC12 is the next clear and crucial deadline for us – as keepers  of the multilateral trade 
system – to make sure that we send a clear signal to the world and to our nations:  
 
WTO Members have regained the sense of purpose and direction, managed to rebuild trust and are 
going to negotiate and deliver results that the world urgently requires.  
 
If you trust me with the honor to be your next Director General, I will use my political, ministerial, 
ambassadorial, managerial and negotiation experience at the strategic and tactical levels, to 
constantly pursuit to drive t he WTO to a brighter future, with fairness, independence, transparency, 
inclusiveness, bearing in mind that this is a member -driven Organization, where all members, 
including the smallest, must be part of the driving force and that the DG is an honest brok er, who 
both understands the issues and has the capacity to facilitate political dialogue and a DG that Gets 
Things Done!  
 
The time is always right to do what 's right. Let 's win together!  
 
__________