Former WTO chief seen as key Brazil cabinet member if Lula wins

Former World Trade Organization head Roberto Azevedo has emerged as a potential cabinet member for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in case the leftist former president wins Brazil’s October election, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

Azevedo, currently executive vice president for corporate affairs at PepsiCo Inc, is seen by Lula’s campaign members as a skillful and experienced negotiator who could lead several key ministries, including Finance, Trade and Industry, or Foreign Relations, the people said, requesting anonymity because the discussion isn’t public. 

Azevedo didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.

Investors, who seek reassurance that Lula would pursue business-friendly policies in a possible third term, have been eager to know who his finance chief would be. The former president has given signs that he would like a politician on the job, but nothing is written in stone. 

According to two of the people, Azevedo would be a positive surprise in such a position as he would be able to build a fresh relationship with congress while helping restore Brazil’s credibility abroad.

A Brazilian ambassador and career diplomat who served as WTO director-general between 2013 and 2020, Azevedo was one of the powerful company executives who attended a lunch with the presidential front-runner earlier this week in Sao Paulo.

During the meeting, he told the former president that, if elected, he should address the country’s loss of international relevance in multilateral organizations and geopolitical discussions, said one person who attended the lunch and asked not to be identified because it was a private discussion. 

When first elected president in 2003, Lula surprised financial markets by choosing Antonio Palocci, a physician and former mayor of a medium-sized city in the state of Sao Paulo, as his finance minister, the most powerful job in the cabinet.