TRADE:
WTO Leadership Race Now a North-South Contest
Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, May 9 (IPS) - The final stage in the process of appointing a new
World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief kicked off Monday with two candidates
virtually from opposite ends of the world, in terms of both geography and
level of development: Uruguay's Carlos Pérez del Castillo and France's
Pascal Lamy.
The chair of the WTO General Council, Amina Mohamed of Kenya, began the
process of consultations with representatives of the 148 WTO member states.
She will be assisted by the chairs of the Dispute Settlement Body, Eirik
Glenne of Norway, and the Trade Policy Review Body, Canadian Don Stephenson,
who will act as facilitators.
The outcome of the selection process, to be announced by May 31, will
determine the fate of the only major international economic or financial
institution that is not currently subject to the political control of
countries of the industrialised North.
The outgoing director-general of the WTO, whose term ends Aug. 31, is
Supachai Panitchpakdi, an economist from Thailand.
In the meantime, the other two most influential international institutions
are headed up by representatives of the industrialised world.
World Bank president James Wolfensohn of the United States will be handing
over the reins on May 31 to another U.S. official, Paul Wolfowitz, while the
managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is Rodrigo Rato,
from Spain.
In the case of the multilateral trade system, in the entire time since the
creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947
through the history of its successor, the WTO, established in 1995, Supachai
has been the only representative of the countries of the South to occupy the
top leadership post, during his three-year term.
In view of this fact, Pérez del Castillo asked the representatives of the
African WTO member states during a Monday meeting in Geneva, "Are we going
to let the developed countries have a complete monopoly on conducting the
destinies of three institutions? Is that the multilateral system we want to
promote our interests?"
"I know it is not," he declared.
The Uruguayan candidate will be staying in Geneva, where the WTO
headquarters are located, until the leadership decision is announced, since
he cannot afford to travel to other countries and campaign for support. On
Tuesday, he will meet with representatives of the least developed WTO member
countries.
For his part, Lamy flew to South Africa on Monday, and will head next to the
Caribbean, to meet with ministers in a number of countries in that region.
For the last three weeks, he has been serving as a special advisor to
European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson of Britain; Lamy himself
held this post from 1999 to 2004.
The Financial Times has speculated that Lamy's designation to this advisory
role is a way for the EU to provide support and funding for his WTO
electoral campaign.
Lamy and Pérez del Castillo are the last remaining contenders for the
organisation's leadership, since the other two candidates were forced out of
the race after receiving less backing from their fellow member states. The
first to drop out was Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, the Brazilian
representative to the WTO, followed by Jayen Cuttaree, the trade minister of
Mauritius.
Cuttaree, caught up in a bitter dispute with Lamy, immediately announced
that he would throw his support behind Pérez del Castillo and called on the
developing countries, particularly those of Africa, to follow suit. For its
part, the Brazilian government also stated last week that it was backing the
Uruguayan candidate.
Mohamed told IPS that consultations with member states would continue
through Thursday, but added that it was not certain if the process would
conclude this week, or would need to be extended for several more days.
The consultations are aimed at identifying a candidate who can obtain
consensus support. In accordance with the procedures established for the
designation of a WTO director-general, it is only as a "last resort" that
the decision can be reached through a vote - a mechanism practically alien
to the organisation's decision-making processes.
The first WTO director-general was Italian Renato Ruggiero (1995-1999). The
election of his successor sparked a sharp division within the organisation,
with the battle lines clearly drawn between the blocs representing the North
and South. The dispute was resolved through the establishment of a six-year
term shared between Mike Moore of New Zealand (who served from 1999 to 2002)
and Supachai.
Candidates for the top WTO post are expected to have extensive experience in
international relations, encompassing economic, trade and political affairs,
as well as being committed to supporting the work and objectives of the
organisation.
Pérez del Castillo is backed by an international relations career spanning
over 30 years, much of it devoted to the concerns of developing countries,
particularly in Africa and Latin America. During 2003 he served as chair of
the WTO General Council, the body that directs the organisation in the
periods between ministerial conferences.
While occupying this post, he earned the enmity of the Group of 20, an
informal grouping of developing countries opposed to agricultural trade
subsidies, for putting forward what these nations deemed a proposal that
favoured the wealthy nations at the disastrous September 2003 ministerial
conference in Cancún, Mexico.
For his part, Lamy was a staunch defender of European protectionist measures
in agricultural trade during his time as EU trade commissioner.
(END/2005)
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