Newsweek Interviews Pascal Lamy Newsweek

Newsweek Interviews Pascal Lamy

Newsweek reporter Karen Lowry Miller interviewed Pascal Lamy for the February 7 issue: "There Is No Trade King"

Why does he want to be WTO Director-General?

"Why do you want to head an institution you once called medieval?

Twice, in Seattle and in Cancun. I was terribly frustrated at the way ministerial conferences are structured, or unstructured. Only a miracle could have saved Seattle or Cancun. When taking the right decisions depends on a miracle, we are back to the Middle Ages. We need to improve many things, such as the roles of the host minister and the chief of the negotiating council, how do we decide when topics need facilitators, and so on. We need more transparency.

So what would you do as king of the WTO?

There is no king. You've got to be recognized as a broker, and you have to earn your respect every day.

In this climate, doesn't the director-general have to be able to knock heads together?

There is a leadership challenge now. But the same people who insist on leadership are the same who insist on the fact that we are a member-driven organization. [As the director-general] you don't have any power. You have to build a capital of trust across the board, among all the members, which they accept you might try spending from time to time."

Comments

[r4 ds]

The only thing more sad and useless than bureaucrats trying to control free enterprise are international bureaucrats doing the same, failing, putting a good "spin" on it, then going shopping.

And what is the point of this article other than to sell someone's book? Sounds like some paranoid's conspiracy theory again..........