Advocate for developing world chairs WTO
Advocate for developing world chairs WTO
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi, who takes the helm of the
World Trade Organization on Sept. 1, is expected to offer
developing nations a longed-for voice at the top table of global
commerce.
The former Thai commerce minister replaces outgoing director
Mike Moore of New Zealand, who poor nations saw as waving the
banner of the developed world at the powerful body.
In 1999 the two were pitted in a bruising leadership race that
highlighted different approaches to global trade and was finally
resolved by a term-sharing compromise giving each man a three-
year term.
Supachai takes up the top job at a time of political and
economic crisis, as the world grapples with a prolonged slowdown
compounded by the fallout of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States.
In Doha, Qatar, in November, the 144-member body hammered out
a new round of trade liberalization negotiations expected to last
until January 2005.
It is not expected to be smooth sailing, and Supachai hinted
as much in Hong Kong in May when he said negotiations under the
Doha round will be "touching on the raw nerves of participating
countries."
The veteran politician served as commerce minister and deputy
prime minister in the government of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
which was defeated in elections early last year.
Since then the 55-year-old has maintained a low profile and
stayed well out of the rancorous Thai political scene as he
prepared to step onto the world stage.
Supachai has said he aims to ensure developing nations a place
alongside the West and Japan in the next round of global trade
talks.
Soon he will have to put that pledge into action, possibly
against trade giants who in the past have not been keen to
broaden the scope of WTO decision making.
Amid rising discontent at the spread of globalization,
Supachai has also promised critics of the new global trading
regime that he will implement reforms when he takes charge.
"I hope that when it comes to the next ministerial conference
we will see sacrifices coming from the advanced countries to make
the round really a development round," he told a World
Development Movement gathering in London in June.
Experts believe that the most significant factor in the Doha
round will be the way in which subsidies are reduced, principally
in agriculture.
Supachai is adamant the WTO must improve cooperation with
various United Nations departments and has nominated textiles,
mobility of labor and commodities as areas in which he wants to
improve global cooperation.
He has also swung his support behind proposals for a regional
monetary fund, saying in 2000 that it appeared an unstoppable
momentum was building for some kind of Asian support mechanism to
combat financial shocks.
Thailand's lobbying for Supachai before the WTO leadership
contest stressed his capacity to bridge the gap between
established trade powers and developing nations.
His economic expertise was honed in years of key roles in the
finance industry where he rode the heights of Thailand's boom
years and felt the bitter lash of economic collapse.
As commerce minister, he was a leading member of the
government team implementing the tough International Monetary
Fund bailout agreed after the meltdown in Thailand's economy in
1997.
As a result he became well acquainted with the social and
economic price that must be paid when a soaring economy comes
crashing down.
Supachai played a leading role during Thailand's spectacular
boom years in the 1980s and early 1990s as spokesman of the
central bank and then president of Thai Military Bank.
Associates regard him as an accomplished negotiator and a
specialist in foreign affairs, skills he will need to exploit to
their utmost to unblock the rancorous trade disputes he is sure
to face in his new job.