MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former EU Trade representative confirmed WTO chief

Former European Union trade chief Pascal Lamy, of France, was confirmed Thursday as the new Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

A session of the ruling General Council of the 148-member WTO formally approved a decision made public earlier this month by a selection team. Mr Lamy is scheduled to take up his four-year mandate on September 1, when current WTO director general Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand ends his term.

"I am honoured that the WTO 148 members have decided to appoint me director-general," Mr Lamy said.

The WTO, which sets the rules for global commerce, is largely steered by its members, using a sluggish system that Mr Lamy once dismissed as "medieval".

But the director-general also plays an important role, prodding recalcitrant governments and helping build compromise in an effort to drive trade talks forward.

As trade relations between leading WTO members such as China, the United States and the EU grow increasingly sour Mr Lamy can expect a tough challenge.

His key task will be to maintain momentum in the three months before ministerial talks in Hong Kong next December 13/18, which are meant to cap the Doha round of global trade negotiations.

"I believe we have a crucial task ahead to complete the Doha development agenda round of trade talks, this will be my immediate first, second and third priority," Mr Lamy said.

The round, aimed primarily at liberalizing global commerce in a manner that benefits poorer nations, has stumbled repeatedly since it was launched in 2001, mainly because of discord between rich and poor countries. WTO members have set an interim deadline of July, hoping by then to have sketched out the treaty.

Rich and poor members of the WTO found common ground in the leadership contest, which saw Mr Lamy picked ahead of the foreign minister of Mauritius and senior trade diplomats from Brazil and Uruguay. The WTO director-general is not elected but rather chosen by consensus, after soundings aimed at determining which candidate was the more acceptable to most members from the broadest geographical range.

Mr Lamy, 58, is an advocate of "controlled" globalization. He has said he aims to build bridges between industrialised countries and the ever more influential developing nations in the WTO.

As the EU's trade commissioner, Mr Lamy sided with developing countries by fighting to reduce agricultural export subsidies, even though his stance drew criticism from his native France. But he also pushed the "Singapore issues" - further liberalisation of investments, public procurement and competition policy - angering developing countries during the WTO's ill-fated ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in 2003.

His free-trade credentials, which pleased many in rich countries, also mean he is widely disliked by the anti-globalization movement. Mr Lamy will be the WTO fifth director-general since the organization was established a decade ago