The third and final round of WTO Director-General consultations ends today (May 12).
The three news stories that I've seen point to a Lamy victory.
India's Financial Express reports "Lamy hot favourite for WTO post " (May 13). The Express reports that both India and China have chosen to back Lamy rather than his opponent, Carlos Perez del Castillo (who is from a developing country).
Former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy is emerging as a favourite for the post of the director general (DG) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with both India and China backing him instead of the developing country candidate Perez Del Castillo from Uruguay.
Speaking to FE, commerce ministry officials said that with India’s favourites Jaya Krishna Cuttaree from Mauritius and Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa from Brazil dropping out of the race, the contest for the DG’s post had ceased to be one between developed and developing countries. "Uruguay is not the kind of developing country which can relate to the concerns of developing countries and LDCs in other parts of the world. So, it makes no sense for us to back it just because it is a developing country," an official said.
This is a short, but interesting story.
Australia's Melbourne Herald Sun reports that "Lamy leads WTO race".
Richard Waddington reports for Reuters that "Lamy battles to retain lead as WTO race nears end". Waddington points out that this decision is not made by a majority vote, but by consensus:
Lamy, a French socialist, took first place in both of the first two rounds of soundings. But despite this advantage, some developing state diplomats said the battle was far from over.
The successful candidate had to be the one most likely to get "consensus," meaning objections also had to be taken into account, they said.
"It will not be a simple decision; there are objections to one of the candidates," said a diplomat from a developing country opposed to Lamy. "It is not just a matter of who has most votes. There are members that will have very serious difficulties in joining a consensus (on Lamy)," he added.
Alan Beattie points out that although the consultation is ending, "The result...may still not be conclusive if there are strong objections from countries to one candidate...: "Fresh Doha debate looms for new WTO head" (Financial Times, May 13).
Zee News: " End in sight for WTO leadership duel " (India, May 13)
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