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.