Brasília – Promising to seek new paths to international trade, Brazil’s Roberto Azevêdo, to be inaugurated as director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on September 2nd, is eagerly awaited by the Brazilian industry. The sector is expecting for Azevêdo to effect changes in the world trade regime, including simplifying rules, lowering taxes and expedite the shipping of goods.
In a statement released this Friday (30th), the National Confederation of Industries (CNI, in the Portuguese acronym) noted that Azevêdo will implement stimuli and new business opportunities, and ensured that the optimism does not stem from the fact that the new director is Brazilian. National industry believes the new WTO head will actively seek an agreement for modernization of customs procedures and elimination of red tape barriers.
The CNI industrial development director Carlos Abijaodi said these measures comprise the national industry’s competitiveness agenda. Abijaodi said transaction costs exceed production costs, because they include losses caused by paperwork, taxes, difficult access to information, and insecurity.
In the text, the confederation also mentions a survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to which a new agreement could cut transactions’ costs by 10% for developed countries and 13% to 15% for developing ones.
Azevêdo will take charge of the WTO with a near-complete team, composed of specialists of various nationalities. The inauguration ceremony was scheduled for September 1st, but has been rescheduled by the WTO to September 9th. However, he will in fact take office on Monday, September 2nd. Azevêdo’s election process started in March, when nine candidates competed for the slot. By April, the choice was narrowed down to Azevêdo and Mexico’s Herminio Blanco, and the Brazilian came out the victor.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
