Pascal Lamy wordt president Wereldhandelsorganisatie WHO (en)

Met dank overgenomen van EUobserver (EUOBSERVER) i, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 13 mei 2005, 15:05.
Auteur: | By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS/EUOBSERVER - Former EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy i seems set to get the top job at the WTO, following reports that the selection panel will put his name forward at an informal meeting later today (13 May).

The trade body's general council will meet to formalise the decision on 26 May, allowing Mr Lamy to take over from the current director-general, Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi, in September.

The 26 May meeting will need to establish the attendees' consensus to secure the appointment - over 100 of the WTO's 148 members are expected to show up in Geneva for the vote.

But the selection panel has already sounded out its opinion over the past six weeks. And a general council meeting has never overturned the selection panel's informal choice in the past.

The European Commission said that Pascal Lamy is "uniquely qualified to lead the WTO in a decisive moment", adding that the success of the Doha round is currently top of the commission's international trade agenda.

WTO ministers are set to meet in Hong Kong this December to try and reach agreement on the Doha project, which is aimed at freeing-up market access for developing countries.

Lamy: friend of Europe

A spokeswoman also confirmed that Mr Lamy has advised trade commissioner Peter Mandelson on the Chinese textile problem in recent times.

The EU is currently probing a dramatic upswing in Chinese exports of nine types of textile products into Europe, with a view to introducing protection measures under WTO rules.

Brussels is also trying to stave off a WTO-level conflict with Washington over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus.

Pascal Lamy is the current president of the Notre Europe think tank, an associate professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and a trustee of the integrationist group, Friends of Europe.

A previous report by the Kenyan head of the selection panel, Amina Mohamed, noted that some countries had expressed doubt in Mr Lamy's ability to lead the 148-strong group.

The director-general's primary role is to facilitate agreement among WTO members through behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Article VI of the organisation's charter forbids the WTO head to seek or accept guidance from any individual governments.

Mr Lamy beat off competition from Uruguayan trade advisor Carlos Perez del Castillo, Mauritius's foreign minister Jaya Krishna Cuttaree and Brasilian trade expert Luiz Felipe de Seixas Corrêa to secure the post.


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