WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/GC/INF/18 
28 December 2012 
 (12-7067) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
APPOINTMENT OF THE NEXT DIRECTOR-GENERAL 
 
Nomination Process 
  
 The following communication, nominating Ambassador Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo  for 
the position of Director-General, has been received from the Delegation of Brazil  on 
28 December 2012 . 
  In keeping with the procedures set out in WT/L/509 this nomination, together with supporting 
information, is being distributed as received to all Members. 
 
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 Ambassador Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, a Brazilian career diplomat, has been the 
Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO and other In ternational Economic 
Organisations in Geneva sinc e 2008.  Besides WTO, Ambassador  Azevêdo also represents 
Brazil before other economic organisations, such as the World Intellectual Property 
Organisation (WIPO), the United Nations C ouncil for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 
and the International Tel ecommunications Union (ITU). 
 Having joined the Brazilian Foreign Service in 1984, he has since then accumulated vast experience in international ec onomic and trade policy matters, including dispute settlement. 
Ambassador Azevêdo’s last position in Brasilia,  from 2006 to 2008 at the Ministry of Foreign 
Relations, was Vice-Minister for Economic and T echnological Affairs. In that capacity, he 
was Brazil’s chief-negotiator for the Doha  Round and supervised MERCOSUR’s trade 
negotiations with other groupings or countries outside Latin America. 
 Prior to that, he was the Director of the Depa rtment of Economic Affairs (2005/6) and Head 
of the Dispute Settlement Unit (2001/05). Amba ssador Azevêdo was Brazil’s chief-litigator 
in many important disputes at the WTO. He  also served on and chaired WTO dispute-
settlement panels.   Ambassador Azevêdo has participated, in variou s capacities, in nearly all WTO ministerial 
conferences since the launch of the Doha Round. As Brazil’ s Senior Official and as WT/GC/INF/18 
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  Permanent Representative to the WTO, his te sted experience and hands-on approach have 
earned him the reputation of a well-prepared and credible ne gotiator, capable of identifying 
creative solutions and building consensus around them.  
 In his diplomatic career, Ambassador Azev êdo served at the Embassies of Brazil in 
Washington (1988-91) and Montevideo (1992-94), as well as at the Permanent Mission of 
Brazil in Geneva (1997-2001). In Brasilia, he wa s also Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic 
Affairs to the Forei gn Minister (1995-96). 
 Ambassador Azevêdo represented Brazil in differe nt specialised interna tional bodies such as 
the FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission, the International Cotton Council, International 
Cotton Advisory Committee, the OECD Trade Committee, among others.  He was also the 
leading negotiator for Brazil in the Revision of the OECD Sector Understanding on Export 
Credits for Civil Aircraft.  Ambassador Azevêdo’s academic background is in Electrical Engineering, at the University 
of Brasília, and in International Relations, at “Instituto Rio Branco”, the Diplomatic 
Academy of the Foreign Ministry. He has b een a frequent lectur er on topics of the 
international economic agenda and has publis hed numerous articl es on those issues. 
 His mother tongue is Portuguese. He  is fluent in all of the th ree official languages of the 
WTO: English, French, and Spanish.  Ambassador Azevêdo is 55. He is married, with two daughters.    
 
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