Lamy seeks consensus pitch for top WTO job

Former European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, a contender for the post of director-general of the World Trade Organisation(WTO), does not want a contest and prefers to be a consensus candidate.

A tough trade negotiator till he relinquished office last year, Lamy promises to make the multilateral body more "developing country-friendly" if he makes it to the top job.

"I would ideally like to emerge as a consensus candidate (of both the developing countries as well as the developed countries). I hope I can do that", he told Business Standard. Consensus among various countries, according to him, was not that difficult as "the WTO procedure says nothing about the passport of a candidate; it is a rule-based organisation".

Lamy, who is on a two-day India visit on the invitation of Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"I am re-connecting with old friends both in business and in the government. I have good working relations with Nath and I have known Prime Minister Singh, who is an old trade hand," he said.

About India's supportto his candidature, Lamy is at his diplomatic best: "There is time until the end of May for countries to state their preferences. I am hopeful that as many as possible (will support me). I am pitching for the job. I am making my points, answering questions and listening."

The interaction has helped him, Lamy said. "I have had several one-on-one meetings with developing countries in Geneva, which have given me an insight into what they are after, something which one can't see from Brussels or from Washington."

According to Lamy, the new director-general's work is pretty much chalked out for the year, with the Doha round and the Hong Kong Ministerial in December being top priority.

"Many developing countries don't have a permanent contact with the system (WTO). The WTO secretariat, which tends to become bureaucratic, should be more developing country-friendly," he said.

"The director-general will also have to work towards building a better working relationship with other institutions like the Unctad, the World Bank and the IMF. As D-G of the WTO, he has the mandate to do that," he said adding that a candidate from a developed country like himself could exercise the necessary clout to achieve this objective.

He has already been to China, Cambodia, Thailand and some African countries.

The US had a totally different stand on agriculture when the Doha round of talks started. But from Doha to Cancun, it made some compromises while the European Union under Lamy also softened its stance and put out a common strategy for talks.

Asked if he considered his EU background to be a disadvantage for garnering support from the poorer countries, Lamy said, "On the contrary, there were several occasions where I, as trade commissioner, had taken a stand contrary to the view of domestic constituency."

I was extremely unpopular in France due to my stand on agriculture. Similarly, concessions on drugs given to developing countries under TRIPS (Trade related intellectual property rights) was extremely unpopular with the pharma industry in EU."