Interview: Roberto Azevêdo, SCIA Council Member, Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization

Editor:

On March 1 2024, the Inauguration Ceremony of the Third Council of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) was held at the SCIA Tower in Qianhai, Shenzhen. Roberto Azevêdo, the former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Sir William Blair, former Judge of the High Court of England and Wales, accepted the invitation of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government to become members of the SCIA Council, supporting the construction of China’s international business environment and high-level institutional opening-up. During the Council Meeting, media outlets includingPeople’s Daily, Xinhua News, and Southern Plus conducted in-depth interviews and reported on the Council Members. The following are the excerpts from the video interview with SCIA Council Member Roberto Azevêdo.

Roberto Azevedo, SCIA Council Member,FormerDirector-General of the World Trade Organization

Roberto Azevêdo made a speech at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Third Council of SCIA

Reporters:

What is the role of China in today’s world?

Roberto Azevêdo:

I think China has a very important role to play in today’s world, people talk a lot about deglobalisation that the world is not as globalised as it was before. But that does not make the world simpler, on the contrary, there is more fragmentation, and more efforts trying to put into place: public policies for the digital economy which is new for the 21st century phenomenon; for climate, for environment, there are also new agendas. There is a lot going on that can be very disruptive, and China is the largest global trader who is going to be in the middle of all this. Therefore, investors and companies want predictability, they want to know the rules will be followed, and the attempts for China to provide this stable economic environment is extremely important for global economic growth by the end of the day.

The most important part of the work in WTO is to try to ensure international cooperation. Because at some point in time, especially after the 2008 crisis and the pandemic in 2020, it was very difficult for many countries because there were a lot of fragmentations, and countries are now beginning to look inwards, and not at how they could cooperate with others, but they were looking at how they could figure out the solutions within their borders. That is much more difficult, and very problematic. When they were doing that, the international spirit of cooperation was disappearing gradually. Today, multinational institutions have a really hard time, it is difficult to agree on anything. The UN, the COP meeting in Dubai, the global environment, the climate change and etc, we should know what we want, and it is extremely difficult to have this much of progress there. The biggest challenge that we have, and the priority is to make sure that we could have an inclusive and zero sum mindset. We need to find an environment, where people will find that, if I win, you would win too. To find a win-win situation. That is the biggest challenge.

Reporters:

Why did you accept the invitation to join SCIA as a Council Member? What is the role of SCIA in today’s global trade?

Roberto Azevêdo:

As I was saying, this fragmentation in terms of policies is arborisation of the supply chains, people are diversifying the supply chains. If they had the supplier from one part of the world or one country, they are now very reluctant to be exclusively dependent of that supplier. And this was due to the geo-political attentions in the world, and also the pandemic. The pandemic made it very clear that you cannot only have one supplier, you need to have alternative options and most of the times you need quick solutions. Like if you are a company, you will inevitably experience disputes with other suppliers and partners, and you cannot wait forever to get those things sorted out. They have to come up with it quickly, with a solution that is fast, efficient, effective and credible, and all these things are what SCIA are looking and promoting for, to economic operators.

When I received the invitation, I thought that this is something that I would love to contribute to, this is a cause that I support, and it is important to today’s world. I will be happy and excited to accept this offer.

Reporters:

What is the role of SCIA in promoting the openness of business environment of China?

Roberto Azevêdo:

I think it is very important that SCIA has made efforts to be a truly international arbitration body, not only to resolve issues amongst the region or Chinese firms, but also internationalised. And I think that is the right vision to have, because China is not going to be contained in itself, China is going to be international. In Brazil, 20 years ago, China would not even rank as the top suppliers or trading partners. Today, China is one of the biggest trading suppliers. China is becoming more and more of a global player, and other countries will need to figure out a way to cooperate with China and form a win-win situation on both sides.

And having a stable dispute resolution on the side is what SCIA provides, which is going to be extremely helpful to foster and fertilise this investment in trade relationship in these countries.

Reporters:

In your opinion, what are the characteristics that make SCIA different from other arbitration bodies?

Roberto Azevêdo:

The idea is to be similar, because investors and companies are used to a particular type of arbitration, we do not want to be too different. We want to be something that people are used to and trust. Trust is absolutely fundamental here.

SCIA strives to be and is, very independent, so arbitrators are very much free from any kind of pressure, interference from anybody. The fact is that they are being more international, as out of the 15 council members, there are 9 from overseas. This shows that the idea is to have variety of visions, and to bring different perspectives. It is not about one country or one region, it is about defining the culture of arbitration environment, its truly international environment that gives comfort to investors and companies, and it understands that their view and positions will be understood. And that they do not need to translate their view and vision to one region’s culture. Because wherever these parties come from, the SCIA understands and adjudicate on the basis of the very plural visions.

Reporters:

What are the advantages and challenges in terms of talents and professional skills for SCIA?

Roberto Azevêdo:

There are somethings that are easy to tackle, like training people and professors to perform in the sector, it is possible and happens naturally. The more difficult thing is that the traders are more used to appointing older professional bodies like the ICC. And SCIA will need to overcome that by being more accessible, and in time, it shall show the quality and importance of the work that SCIA is undertaking. And I am very confident that very soon the SCIA will earn the international recognition that it deserves.

Reporters:

What are your suggestions for SCIA? What does it need to do for striving for excellence?

Roberto Azevêdo:

It is striving for excellence, and no other solution. It is about trying to provide the best service that they can. This is also what I found in our Council Member’s meeting. The idea that everyone had is that you must gain your recognition by performing at the highest level possible, it is all about excellence. If the mentality of excellence is there, and if we keep and invest in that kind of excellence, it would be a conclusion that SCIA would become a world-class arbitration institution that is recognised internationally.