WTO Director-General Azevedo Plans to Step Down Before Term's End in 2021 - Reports
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo intends to depart from his post before the end of his term in 2021 amid the crisis of the organization's dispute-settlement system, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2020) World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo intends to depart from his post before the end of his term in 2021 amid the crisis of the organization's dispute-settlement system, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Azevedo has served as the WTO chief since September 2013, and his second four-year term started in September 2017.
Bloomberg reported that one of Azevedo's four deputies � Yonov Frederick Agah of Nigeria, Karl Brauner of Germany, Alan Wolff of the United States and Yi Xiaozhun of China � might serve as an interim caretaker until the end of his term in 2021.
The report comes as the WTO is coming through a crisis in its system for resolving disputes between its members after Washington paralyzed it by blocking new appointments to the seven-member Appellate Body last year. US President Donald Trump said that the WTO needed a major reform and suggested that Washington might withdraw from the organization. �