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.