Jayakrishna Cuttaree Mauritius Foreign Minister

Jayakrishna Cuttaree

Mauritius Foreign Minister Jayakrishna Cuttaree is one of the candidates for Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Here is a report of an interview with him: "AFP Interview: WTO candidate criticises EU for nominating rival" . He makes the following points:

• The main goal of the WTO must be development.
• He is the candidate of the "south."
• Currently WTO negotiations are a "battle of the haves and have-nots." The developed countries are trying to get developing countries to lower their trade barriers "but refusing to drop massive subsidies of their own." "We have a big problem with the perception of the WTO: that it is the rich countries against the poor. People must feel their concerns are being taken into account," he said.
• The Europeans shouldn't have put Pascal Lamy forward as a candidate. " "The director of the World Bank is reserved for the Americans, the head of the International Monetary Fund is reserved for the Europeans, and now the EU also wants the WTO," he told AFP in an interview..."
• It's too early to open African agricultural markets. "Today if you open agricultural markets, that will be to the advantage of developed countries. The Africans don't have roads, they can't respond to the health regulations required," he said..."We must open markets, but there must be a coherence between commerce and development if we want to avoid a situation whereby only developed nations profit."

The ACP is a grouping of African-Caribbean-Pacific countries with preferential trading arrangements with the EU. Mauritius is an island of 1.2 million people in the Indian Ocean - east of Madagascar. The CIA factbook Mauritius page: Mauritius The website of the foreign ministry:Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Regional Cooperation