[asia-apec 1174] WTO Leadership race

[Gatt Watchdog]

From: The Dominion, July 2 1999, Wellington

Reluctant WTO voters blamed
By Andrea Fox

RELUCTANCE by some World Trade Organisation member countries to vote has
contributed to the "messiness" of the leadership standoff, Singapore's
Trade Minister, Brigadier General George Yeo said yesterday.

But a United States specialist in international trade, also visiting
Wellington this week, believes the standoff between New Zealand's Mike
Moore and Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi is a symptom of a serious split
between the north and south of the world.

Allan Mendelowitz, vice president of Washington's Economic Strategy
Institute, said the WTO needed to address the split "directly and
courageously" because it contributed to the Asian economic collapse.

Both said the newness of the WTO was also a factor in the divisive and
long-running leadership issue.  A compromise seems likely with Mr Moore and
Dr Supachai sharing the job, each serving three years.

Singapore supported Dr Supachai and the United States backed Mr Moore.

Brigadier Yeo, whose Government supports trade liberalisation and has an
unrestricted, zero tariff import regime, said the reluctance to vote in the
absence of consensus was for good reason.

"...it is a complex and vigorous consensus process which is unqualified and
not clearly defined , so occasionally [we get] this kind of messiness we
now have.

"But then if we have one man, one vote, then the poor economies would be
disproportionately weakened and the result would be that wealthier
countries may decide it's a process not worth being committed to."

Dr Mendelowitz said one of the reasons for the 1997 Asian crash was because
within the Gatt system there was a tolerance for "things we should not have
been tolerant of".

"That led to significant distortions that imposed great hardship on these
countries and great hardships on workers in the developed world as well.
It's not just an issue of whether Mr Moore is a better candidate than Dr
Supachai but they in effect have become the champions for the different
views of the world, and it does look like a north-south split."

Brigadier Yeo said WTO was a new organisation so procedures had to evolve
which were efficient, workable, and fair and which encouraged all member
countries to join in.

He thought Mr Moore and Dr Supachai sharing the job an attractive solution
but he was not convinced it would work.

"The issues have become charged with emotion," he said.  "It's very sad
we've got stuck in this position and that the atmosphere in Geneva should
be poisoning this matter."

Dr Mendelowitz said the WTO was a new institution of "great sensitivity".
The agreements that had created it involved countries giving up peces of
their national sovereignty.

"At this very early formative stage every challenge to the effective
functioning of the organisation is problematic...and the absence of a
distinguished leader is problematic.

"It challenges the vitality and credibility of the organisation.  It's
definitely a teething problem but it is emblematic of a deeper problem -
the north and south split."


The Dominion, Wellington, July 2 1999

Moore awaits offer to take helm of WTO
By Victoria Main, Political Editor

LABOUR MP Mike Moore has inched closer to taking up the world's top trade
job with the United States' public endorsement of a compromise plan
allowing for two consecutive terms of three to four years.

Mr Moore, who is deemed the winner of the World Trade Organisation
director-generalship , is awaiting a firm offer for him to take up the
Geneva-based post first, before commencing himself to the proposal.

Rival candidate Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi is willing
to accept the idea of consecutive mandates, but has yet to say whether he
would agree to serve second.

Non-Asian developing countries will take some persuading that the
Asia-Pacific region should have the post for up to eight years.

It was reported from Washington yesterday that the United States was
amenable to the proposal as a way of resolving the leadership impasse
threatening the beginning of new multilateral trade talks at the WTO
ministerial summit in November in Seattle.

Asked if the United States could accept a shared leadership White House
spokesman Jake Siewert said: "Oh, absolutely.  We think it's important that
this issue be resolved quickly in a way that reflects the will of the
majority."

Mr Moore won a ringing endorsement from German economic state secretary
Lorenz Schomerus, who described him, at a trade seminar in Wellington, as
"a communicator, a political innovative mind who is capable of
communicating the messages which the new trade world of the new millennium
will need".

The European majority view was that Mr Moore was "an excellent candidate
who will be able to lead us through the difficulties, through the maze of
the new trading round", Dr Schomerus told the Institute of International
Affairs forum.

Mr Moore said the delay in filling the WTO post, vacant since April 30, was
threatening its ability to reflect the world it represented.