Event Summary
With two megaregional trade deals on the horizon and negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) languishing, the development of new trade rules is changing hands. Pascal Lamy, former director-general at the WTO, presented recent work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the prospects of multilateral trade negotiations at an event hosted by the Peterson Institute and the World Bank Group on November 2, 2015. Robert B. Zoellick, former World Bank president, and Anabel González, a senior director at the World Bank, were discussants.
Pascal Lamy is the president emeritus of Notre Europe–Jacques Delors Institute. From September 2005 to August 2013, Lamy served for two consecutive terms as general director of the WTO. A committed European and member of the French Socialist party, he was chief of staff for the president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, from 1985 to 1994. He then joined the Credit Lyonnais as CEO until 1999, before returning to Brussels as European Trade Commissioner until 2004.
Robert B. Zoellick is the chairman of Goldman Sachs' International Advisors. He was the president of the World Bank Group during 2007–12. He served in President George W. Bush's cabinet as US Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005 and as deputy secretary of state from 2005 to 2006. From 1985 to 1993, Zoellick worked at the Treasury and State departments in various capacities, including as counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury and Under Secretary of State, as well as briefly in the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff.
Anabel González has been senior director of the World Bank Group Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness since July 1, 2014. Previously, she served as Costa Rica's minister of foreign trade, director to the Agriculture and Commodities Division of the WTO, and as director general for International Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica. As of September 2014, she leads the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Competitiveness.