The World Trade Organization (WTO) members plan to elect New Zealand Ambassador Vangelis Vitalis as the next chairman of the committee on agriculture during a September 8 meeting in Geneva, according to Bloomberg News.
Vitalis, who replaced Ambassador John Adank this month, is in line to become the fifth consecutive New Zealand diplomat to chair the influential agriculture negotiations committee. Vitalis is an experienced WTO negotiator and was a member of the New Zealand trade delegation to Geneva from 2004 to 2008. He most recently served as New Zealand’s ambassador to the European Union.
Vitalis’s election comes at a crucial period for the WTO as members seek to make headway in the historically difficult negotiations aimed at reducing domestic farm subsidies and agricultural tariffs in line with the Doha development agenda.
