Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy was rated as the "top three" candidates for the World Trade Organization (WTO) secretary-general by Germany's Think Tank, which is internationally recognized for its authority.
According to the international trade community on Aug. 16, the Global Economic Dynamics (GED) project team of the Betelsmann Foundation in Germany evaluated Yoo Myung-hee, Kenya's Amina Mohamed, and Moldova's Tudor Ulianovschi as the strong candidates for the next WTO secretary-general in a recent post on its website.
Founded in 1977, the Bethelsmann Foundation is a non-profit organization that carries out public-interest projects and research across politics, society and the economy, and has great influence internationally.
The GED analyzed each other's competitiveness by referring to the results of an online survey conducted by the European University Research Institute (EUI) on a total of 1,092 representatives from WTO member countries and trade officials and experts, and the resumes of candidates.
According to the EUI survey, the next WTO secretary-general's experience in organizational management, political experience, economics & education, WTO negotiating experience, legal knowledge and experience in public posts were appraised to assess how well each candidate meets the six qualifications.
As a result, three candidates, Yoo Myung-hee, Amina Mohamed and Tudor Olianovschi, were ranked as the "top three" among the six, as they satisfied the qualifications in the five categories among the six.