Pascal Lamy to Retire

Three Throw Hat in the Ring for WTO DG

The race to replace WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy when he steps down next August is now well underway, with three candidates having been formally presented to the global trade body in the past week. Additional nominations are expected by the end of the one-month nominating period, which closes on 31 December.

The candidacies of former Ghanaian Trade and Industry Minister Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen and current Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Anabel González had both been officially submitted to the WTO.

Former Indonesian Trade Minister Dr. Mari Elki Pangestu has also been submitted as a nominee, according to Reuters. Indonesia is slated to host the organisation’s upcoming Ninth Ministerial Conference in December 2013.

Others who may be in the running include Ahmad Thougan Al Hindawi, Jordan’s former Trade and Industry Minister, Tim Groser, New Zealand’s current Minister of Trade. Other African candidates, former Kenyan Ambassador Amina Mohamed and current Trade Minister of South Africa Rob Davies may join the fray.

The names of heavyweights Lord Mandelson - former European Commissioner for Trade - and of global governance activist and former President of Mexico, Dr. Ernesto Zedillo, have also been tossed around in the past few months as options.

The process is being coordinated by the chair of the General Council - currently Ambassador Elin Johansen of Norway - with the assistance of the chairs of the Dispute Settlement Body, presently Ambassador Shahid Bashir of Pakistan (whom, following tradition, is likely to chair in 2013 the General Council), and of the Chairman of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body, in 2012 Colombia’s Ambassador Eduardo Muñoz Gómez.