Malaysia, Indonesia call for vote on WTO's next boss
Malaysia, Indonesia call for vote on WTO's next boss
BATAM (Agencies): Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday demanded a vote to decide who will be the next chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The demand came amid a deadlock in WTO efforts to reach a consensus between Thai Deputy Premier Supachai Panitchpakdi and former New Zealand premier Mike Moore.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia back the Thai candidate. All three countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"We have agreed that we want a vote to be done in Geneva on the WTO DG (director general)," Malaysian trade minister Rafidah Aziz said after talks with Indonesian officials here.
"We are one voice on this," she said. "We don't want to make any more compromises. Enough is enough. We (should) go for a vote and determine once and for all ..."
Trade officials from the two countries met on this Indonesian island on the sidelines of a summit between Indonesian President B.J. Habibie and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Thailand has also called for a vote to unblock the WTO leadership impasse which has been dragging on for months.
The WTO traditionally prefers to make important decisions by consensus. The global trade body has been without a leader since the end of April, when Renato Ruggiero of Italy came to the end of his term.
Indonesia and Malaysia also decided to oppose discussions on the agenda for a new "millennium" round of multilateral trade negotiations at a WTO meeting in Seattle next November, Rafidah said.
"On the next round of multilateral trade negotiations some people are pushing for ... we are not interested in debating any new agenda for a new round," the Malaysian minister said.
"We will go to Seattle to discuss outstanding issues ... things that are still not resolved. We are only prepared at the most next year to start talking about a new round but not in Seattle," Rafidah added.
Meanwhile, Thailand insisted Thursday that its candidate will stay in the race for the top post in the World Trade Organization (WTO) despite the deadlock that has prevented the trade body from reaching a consensus on a new director-general.
Representatives of the major countries supporting Supachai met in Bangkok Thursday with Kobsak Chutikul, director of the Thai foreign ministry's department of economic affairs.
Kobsak said the representatives of the UK, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, India, South Africa and Mexico reiterated their support for Supachai and his staying in the race for the WTO post until he is either accepted or rejected for the job by the WTO General Council.
The representatives also supported Thailand in rejecting New Zealand's suggestion of a compromise that would allow Moore to take the top job and Supachai to be appointed as a sort of super- deputy position, saying it was an improper and unacceptable practice, Kobsak said.
Kobsak said it would be fairest for the WTO to formally propose Supachai to the general council as Mchumo's efforts with Moore had failed so far.
"In terms of fairness, the process has still not worked itself out. Let Supachai have a chance to be considered," Kobsak Chutikul, the ministry's director-general for economic affairs said.
New Zealand
In a related development, a senior minister said in Wellington on Thursday that New Zealand had prepared a sturdy response to anticipated calls for it to withdraw its candidate for WTO leadership.
The move came after the European Union's ambassador to the WTO said on Wednesday that following weeks of deadlock the WTO was close to declaring neither candidate would fit the role.
"New Zealand's position is a simple, sensible position that the chair of the general council has four times recommended New Zealand's Mike Moore as the candidate most likely to secure a consensus," Trade Minister Lockwood Smith told Reuters.
"While the chair is advising all of the WTO of that, naturally New Zealand is fully supportive of our candidate."
The WTO governing General Council's chairman, Ali Mchumo of Tanzania, has so far proposed trying to form a consensus around Moore but many Supachai backers, including Japan, have rejected the idea outright.
A source earlier released to Reuters the approved official response to any pullout advice which emphasized New Zealand's support for the process rather than overt support for Moore.