MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan feels he may have the edge

Uruguayan diplomat Carlos Pérez del Castillo believes his “insider” status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) could yet give him the edge over France's Pascal Lamy in the race for its top job.

Although many saw the former European Union trade chief as front-runner when the final soundings of WTO members began yesterday, Pérez del Castillo said his long experience of the Geneva-based trade body and the fact he came from a developing country could tip the balance.

"It (the job) is the continuation of what I have been doing all my life. I will not have to re-invent myself, and I cannot say that about my rival," he told reporters in an interview. Both men are canvassing for last-minute support among the 148 member states of the WTO, which sets the rules for the world's multi-trillion dollar trade. The deciding round of consultations is due to end tomorrow.

"We feel very competitive in this race," added Pérez del Castillo before going off to meet a big developing-country grouping from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP).

The Uruguayan, a respected former chairman of the WTO's executive General Council and a veteran global free trade negotiator, said his top priority as director-general would be to guide the WTO's Doha Round to a successful conclusion.

This meant not just meeting a 2006 target date, but ensuring that the negotiations lived up to their official name ? the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) ? and delivered when it came to improving the lot of developing countries.

Developing countries, particularly poorer ones, complain that their richer partners have sidelined questions of development in their rush to obtain more open markets for their companies and farmers.

"I think it would be an asset to have somebody in the job who knows the problems of developing countries," he said.

Pérez del Castillo, who took part in both the Uruguay and the Tokyo liberalization rounds, the immediate predecessors of the Doha negotiations, said he would also press for closer cooperation between the WTO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Many development problems, such as the technology gap, fell outside the WTO's area of competence, and tackling them needed effective coordination between the three. "If we are talking about a globalized world, it is about time we got our act together," he said. Although WTO rules give few clear powers to the director-general, Pérez del Castillo said he saw a growing role as a catalyst and mediator in the trade round.

The next WTO chief, who must be named by the end of May, takes over from Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand at the beginning of September ? three months before ministers are expected to agree a draft Doha deal at a conference in Hong Kong.

But even if that deadline were missed, Pérez del Castillo said he was confident a deal would come shortly afterwards.

He said it was also important to tackle the false image of the WTO that existed in much of the world ? that it was not democratic or that its workings were not transparent. "We have to change that perception because the WTO is perhaps the most democratic organization that you can imagine. Poor states and rich states ? all have a veto," he said.