Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 15 • 4th May 2005
DG Race Down To Lamy And Perez Del Castillo
Mauritian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jaya Krishna Cuttaree has withdrawn his candidacy to succeed Supachai Panitchpakdi as the next Director-General of the WTO. The race is now down to two candidates: former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy of France and former Uruguayan WTO Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo.
WTO General Council Chair Ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed of Kenya told a 29 April meeting of heads of Member delegations that the second round of the selection process she is leading indicated that Cuttaree was the least likely of the three remaining candidates to attract the consensus support of all WTO Members.
Mohamed reported on her assessment of Members’ preferences (including second preferences, if stated) and the breadth of support enjoyed by each candidate among least-developed countries, developing countries, and developed countries (no other groupings were considered). She told the delegates that on the basis of the views privately expressed to her by 144 of the WTO’s 148 Members in the second round of consultations, Lamy "enjoyed the highest level of support… both in terms of preferences and breadth of support."
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson welcomed the results, saying "I detect a growing tide in [Lamy's] favour and I believe this is good for the WTO and its work."
Cuttaree had enjoyed the support of the 56 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group WTO Member countries, and had reportedly finished ahead of Perez del Castillo in the first round of consultations. Trade sources report some Cuttaree supporters as suggesting that the EU’s 25 WTO Members had expressed secondary support for Perez del Castillo in the expectation that the ACP countries, which receive preferential access to the EU market, would transfer their support to Lamy in the Mauritian’s absence. (For more on the first round of consultations, see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 April 2005, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-04-20/story3.htm)
Mohamed announced that the third and final round of consultations would be held the week of 9 May, reminding Members that their views from one round do not carry to the next. Along with Dispute Settlement Body Chair Ambassador Eirik Glenne of Norway and Trade Policy Review Body Chair Ambassador Don Stephenson of Canada, she will repeat the question posed to delegations in previous rounds of the process: "What are your preferences?"
According to the procedures agreed to in December 2002, Members are to agree by consensus on a new Director-General at a meeting of the General Council before the end of May.
ICTSD reporting; "Mauritian Cuttaree Withdraws From Race to Head WTO; EU’s Lamy Remains Favorite," WTO REPORTER, 2 May 2005; "Lamy’s Bid for Top WTO Job Buoyed as Rival Eliminated," BLOOMBERG, 29 April 2005; "Mauritian candidate quits WTO leadership race, Lamy stays top," AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, 29 April 2005.