Managing Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Role of the WTO Chairman

Managing Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Role of the WTO Chairman is the first book that brings to the limelight those that are responsible for mediating multilateral negotiations and reaching international agreements. The WTO Chairman has great powers in his hands and is the one person that is present in all the negotiation forums, formal or informal, trying to build bridges between WTO Members. This unique book gathered different perspectives from past and present Chairmen and WTO negotiators. The most respectful Chairmen of the WTO were joined together to discuss about the role of WTO Chairperson, their personal stories, as well as how they influenced and helped reaching agreements: Mr. Luiz Olavo Baptista, Mr. Carlos Perez de Castillo, Mr. Jean Charles Eeckhaute, Mr. Stuart Harbinson, Mr. Mohan Kumar, Mr. Celso Lafer, Mr. Ali Mchumo, Mr. Julio Lacarte Muro, Mr. Shotaro Oshima, Mr. Andrew Stoler. From the stories told by these Chairmen, the backstage history of the WTO and the Doha Round is revealed. Through the eyes of the Chairmen one can learn about the Havana Trade Conference, the passage from the GATT to the WTO, the Ministerial Meetings that occurred in Seattle, Cancun, Doha, the creation of the July 2004 Package and the latest negotiation that was held in Geneva 2008. Managing Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Role of the WTO Chairman should be read by politicians, policy makers, diplomats, international mediators and negotiators, international trade lawyers and economists, scholars and teachers and all those that work with or are curious about related subjects regarding the World Trade Organization. This book presents a new perspective for the international relations, instead of describing the institutions, The Role of the WTO Chairman empowers the ones that devote their lives to mediate multilateral solutions.