Asia hopes its voice will be heard at WTO as Supachai takes helm

Asia hopes its voice will be heard at WTO as Supachai takes helm

Samantha Brown, Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong

Asian nations hope their voices will be heard more sympathetically in the clamor over globalization as one of their own starts work Monday as the new head of the World Trade Organization.

However, some analysts warned that developing countries should not get their hopes too high as former Thai commerce minister Supachai Panitchpakdi takes over as director-general of the global trade organization from New Zealand's Mike Moore.

Developing countries, who say trade liberalization has so far benefited the richest countries most, believe Supachai -- the first citizen of a developing country to hold the top WTO position -- will ensure their interests will be better reflected as trade is further freed up.

"India, along with other developing countries, is hopeful that having a developing country representative as the WTO (director- general) will lead to a more sympathetic understanding of our concerns and ensure faster movement in addressing the implementation issues," said S. N. Menon, additional secretary in India's commerce ministry .

Officials in other countries, including Pakistan and Vietnam, also agreed Supachai should be more aware of problems facing developing countries.

Indonesian economist Pande Raja Silalahi added that as a former bureaucrat, Supachai was best placed to understand which WTO decisions could be implemented in developing countries.

"The problems of countries still in transition, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, are different than those faced by developed countries," said Silalahi, a noted economist with the private think tank, the Centre for International and Strategic Studies.

"At the least, Supachai would have the sense of what can be implemented and what cannot be implemented in certain countries," he said.

However, some analysts remain skeptical of the 55-year-old's ability to advance the agenda of developing countries in the world trade system.

"Dr Supachai has wider acceptance (than Moore) among the WTO member nations and particularly among the developing countries. One can say that he is the consensus candidate for developing countries," said D.K. Bhowmick, senior trade advisor at the Confederation of Indian Industry.

But this does not mean the WTO liberalization process will see a major change of emphasis.

"It will be wrong to expect him to do anything drastic and tilt the balance in favor of developing countries. That he will neither do, nor is it possible," Bhowmick said.

Pakistani economist Asad Saaed agreed, saying Supachai's background was irrelevant.

"The WTO has an agenda and it remains uninfluenced by nationality or skin color," said Saeed, who heads the Collective for Social Science Research think tank.

Japanese diplomats cautioned Supachai against unfairly tilting the WTO agenda towards the interests of the poorer nations.

"Yes, we are hopeful that Dr Supachai will bring voices of Asia and developing nations to WTO forums. But we must ask him to remain fair as the director-general," said a Japanese diplomat.

"Developing nations are gaining influence in the new rounds of the WTO and we don't want their voices to become unfairly influential."