MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU candidate favourite for WTO post

Paul Lamy from the European Union and Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo from Uruguay are the two candidates left for the post of Secretary General of the World Trade Organization following the second round of consultations which eliminated Mauritius Island Foreign Affairs Minister Jaya Cuttaree.

"I've participated in the competition and lost", admitted Mr. Cuttaree once he was informed of the result of consultations among Geneva based WTO 148 members.

WTO current Secretary General is Supachai Panitchpakdi whose term is up next August 31. His successor must be nominated by the end of May following rounds of consultations among country members with the last placed candidate automatically eliminated as happened with Mr. Cuttaree and in the first round, April 15, with Brazilian hopeful Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa.

Therefore the next round will be final and prospects look more promising for Mr. Lamy who has the support of the European Union and United States. Mr. Perez del Castillo is promoted by Latinamerica and the Cairns Group, (which includes among others Nez Zealand and Australia).

Mr. Panitchpakdi successor has a challenging task ahead: finding common ground to help iron out the differences for the WTO South/North dialogue which remains stalled since the ministerial conference of Cancun, Mexico in 2003.

Brazil, India, South Africa and several other leading developing countries united behind the G-20 or Group of 20, demanding improved trade conditions, mainly in agriculture and market access, from developed and industrialized countries, but since then no progress has been registered.