ASEAN backs Thai bid for WTO

ASEAN backs Thai bid for WTO

BANGKOK (DPA): The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to support Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panichpakdi's bid to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), reports said Saturday.

ASEAN's endorsement of Supachai's candidacy was agreed at a recent meeting of senior officials in Vietnam and will be formally announced next week in Singapore, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said.

Supachai, a respected economist and former central banker who is currently deputy prime minister and commerce minister, submitted his candidacy to replace current WTO director-general Renato Reggiero in Bangkok last month.

At the moment only Supachai and Canada's former commerce minister John MacLaren are officially competing for the WTO posting, which must be decided by consensus among the organization's 132 member states by the end of this year.