Mike Moore Biography

Skip to Content | Skip to Footer

Mike Moore is a past Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He is well-known internationally as an articulate proponent of the advantages of a free and fair global trading system. Mr. Moore is widely credited with restoring confidence in the system, following the setback of the third WTO Ministerial Conference held in Seattle in 1999, by launching the Doha Development Round. His period in office saw the successful accession to the WTO of China and Chinese Taipei along with Estonia, Jordan, Georgia, Albania, Oman, Croatia, Lithuania, and Moldova, bringing the majority of the world’s population within the rules-based trading system. He also initiated significant changes to the way the WTO operates and important organisational changes within the Secretariat by introducing a range of strategic management techniques.

Mr. Moore is a former Prime Minister of New Zealand. In a long and distinguished career in politics, he held portfolios in a wide range of areas and served in a number of senior political positions including Trade Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of Tourism, and Deputy Minister of Finance.

Mr. Moore currently holds numerous appointments with global policy and business organisations. These include Member of the United Nations Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Commissioner for the UN Global Commission on International Migration; member of the Board of SGS; senior counsellor for Fonterra; member, and Special Advisor to the UN Global Compact for Business and Development. Mr. Moore is on the Economic Development Board of South Australia, and is an Advisor to other Governments through “Mike Moore International & Associates” which has interests and projects in the Middle East and elsewhere. Mr. Moore is a Trilateral Commission member and a member of the Privy Council. Mr. Moore is an Adjunct Professor at Adelaide University, Australia, and La Trobe University, Australia, and has worked with a number of other Universities and Development agencies.

Mr. Moore is the recipient of numerous honours from governments in Africa, Europe and South America. He was awarded New Zealand’s highest honour, the Order of New Zealand. Mr. Moore also holds honorary doctorates in commerce from Lincoln University, New Zealand; in economics from the People’s University of China, Beijing; in commerce from Auckland University of Technology and Canterbury University, and law from La Trobe University in Australia.

He is also the author of a number of books including: On Balance; Beyond Today; A Pacific Parliament; The Added Value Economy; Hard Labour, Fighting For New Zealand; Children of the Poor and a Brief History of the Future. Mr. Moore’s most recent book is on globalisation entitled, A World Without Walls, now published in Chinese and Turkish. He has a regular newspaper column that is published in 8 countries.

Married in 1975 to Yvonne nee Dereany.

Mike Moore can be found at www.mike-moore.info/.