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."