Advocate for developing world chairs WTO<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi, who takes the helm of the
\nWorld Trade Organization on Sept. 1, is expected to offer
\ndeveloping nations a longed-for voice at the top table of global
\ncommerce.<\/p>\n
The former Thai commerce minister replaces outgoing director
\nMike Moore of New Zealand, who poor nations saw as waving the
\nbanner of the developed world at the powerful body.<\/p>\n
In 1999 the two were pitted in a bruising leadership race that
\nhighlighted different approaches to global trade and was finally
\nresolved by a term-sharing compromise giving each man a three-
\nyear term.<\/p>\n
Supachai takes up the top job at a time of political and
\neconomic crisis, as the world grapples with a prolonged slowdown
\ncompounded by the fallout of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
In Doha, Qatar, in November, the 144-member body hammered out
\na new round of trade liberalization negotiations expected to last
\nuntil January 2005.<\/p>\n
It is not expected to be smooth sailing, and Supachai hinted
\nas much in Hong Kong in May when he said negotiations under the
\nDoha round will be \"touching on the raw nerves of participating
\ncountries.\"<\/p>\n
The veteran politician served as commerce minister and deputy
\nprime minister in the government of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
\nwhich was defeated in elections early last year.<\/p>\n
Since then the 55-year-old has maintained a low profile and
\nstayed well out of the rancorous Thai political scene as he
\nprepared to step onto the world stage.<\/p>\n
Supachai has said he aims to ensure developing nations a place
\nalongside the West and Japan in the next round of global trade
\ntalks.<\/p>\n
Soon he will have to put that pledge into action, possibly
\nagainst trade giants who in the past have not been keen to
\nbroaden the scope of WTO decision making.<\/p>\n
Amid rising discontent at the spread of globalization,
\nSupachai has also promised critics of the new global trading
\nregime that he will implement reforms when he takes charge.<\/p>\n
\"I hope that when it comes to the next ministerial conference
\nwe will see sacrifices coming from the advanced countries to make
\nthe round really a development round,\" he told a World
\nDevelopment Movement gathering in London in June.<\/p>\n
Experts believe that the most significant factor in the Doha
\nround will be the way in which subsidies are reduced, principally
\nin agriculture.<\/p>\n
Supachai is adamant the WTO must improve cooperation with
\nvarious United Nations departments and has nominated textiles,
\nmobility of labor and commodities as areas in which he wants to
\nimprove global cooperation.<\/p>\n
He has also swung his support behind proposals for a regional
\nmonetary fund, saying in 2000 that it appeared an unstoppable
\nmomentum was building for some kind of Asian support mechanism to
\ncombat financial shocks.<\/p>\n
Thailand's lobbying for Supachai before the WTO leadership
\ncontest stressed his capacity to bridge the gap between
\nestablished trade powers and developing nations.<\/p>\n
His economic expertise was honed in years of key roles in the
\nfinance industry where he rode the heights of Thailand's boom
\nyears and felt the bitter lash of economic collapse.<\/p>\n
As commerce minister, he was a leading member of the
\ngovernment team implementing the tough International Monetary
\nFund bailout agreed after the meltdown in Thailand's economy in
\n1997.<\/p>\n
As a result he became well acquainted with the social and
\neconomic price that must be paid when a soaring economy comes
\ncrashing down.<\/p>\n
Supachai played a leading role during Thailand's spectacular
\nboom years in the 1980s and early 1990s as spokesman of the
\ncentral bank and then president of Thai Military Bank.<\/p>\n
Associates regard him as an accomplished negotiator and a
\nspecialist in foreign affairs, skills he will need to exploit to
\ntheir utmost to unblock the rancorous trade disputes he is sure
\nto face in his new job.<\/p>",
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