France's Lamy favourite to head World Trade Organisation

The race to lead the World Trade Organisation has narrowed to two candidates - Pascal Lamy of France and Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay, a key mediator said yesterday.

And there is a “growing tide” of opinion in favour of Lamy, said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. “This is a welcome and encouraging result for Pascal Lamy.”

Kenyan Ambassador Amina Mohamed, who heads a three-member panel of ambassadors at the centre of the selection process, said: “Lamy enjoyed the highest level of support from members, both in terms of preferences and in breadth of support.”

Jaya Krishna Cuttaree, the foreign affairs and trade minister of Mauritius, said yesterday that he had withdrawn from the race to become WTO director-general.

“I think it’s logical that I pull out,” Cuttaree said. ”According to the weighted average of the poll, I am behind.”

Mohamed said there would be a third and final round of negotiations starting in mid-May to make the final choice between the two remaining candidates.

Cuttaree said that he gave up yesterday after Mohamed and the two other mediators indicated that Lamy, the former European Union trade chief, was the candidate most likely to attract consensus.

Mohamed’s panel is holding two months of closed-door consultations with their counterparts from other countries to help select the next head of the 148-nation body.

“I understand that Pascal Lamy was first in terms of acceptance, second was Castillo and I was third,” Cuttaree said. “I wasn’t very happy, but that’s the rules.”

But Uruguay’s Ambassador to the WTO said that the race not over, even though Mohamed’s panel has indicated that Lamy has more support than Castillo.

Brazil withdrew its candidate, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, who is the country’s ambassador to the WTO, after Mohamed’s first report earlier this month.

In that report, Mohamed said all three leading candidates – Lamy, Castillo and Cuttaree – had broad backing from members. A small number of members expressed concerns about Lamy’s ability to lead the organisation, Mohamed said at the time, without giving any details.

The winner will succeed Supachai Panitchpakdi, of Thailand, who steps down August 31.