US embassy cable - 05PRETORIA259

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 000259 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR ALLGEIER, DWOSKIN, COLEMAN 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
DEPT FOR EB/OT CRAFT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, SF 
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S CANDIDATE FOR WTO DG LOBBIES SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 
1.  Summary.   Ambassador Luis Felipe de Seixas Correa, 
Brazil's candidate to be the next DG of the WTO, discussed 
the ongoing negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda on 
January 11.  He said that development should remain at the 
core of the Doha negotiations and that agriculture was the 
most important issue from the development perspective.  He 
underlined the importance of the WTO in terms of fair trade 
and dispute settlement.  He lauded the formation of the G20 
in the lead-up to Cancun and its success in coordinating the 
positions of developing countries.  He said the G20 had a 
tremendous stake in the system and assuring the negotiations 
succeeded.  He underscored that the WTO was and should remain 
a member-driven organization and that decision-making was 
based on consensus.  He saw the role of the DG as doing what 
the members ask and trying to foster consensus.  South 
Africa's trade minister had a good meeting with Ambassador 
Correa, but South Africa has yet to take a formal position on 
any of the candidates for the WTO DG position.  End Summary. 
 
2.  Brazil's candidate to be the next Director General of the 
World Trade Organization, Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas 
Correa, spoke on January 11 at the South African Institute 
for International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg.  He is 
currently Brazil's Permanent Representative at the World 
Trade Organization (WTO).  Xavier Carim, the Chief Director 
for Multilateral Negotiations in the Department of Trade and 
Industry (DTI), provided a warm and positive introduction. 
He said Ambassador Correa had had a good meeting earlier with 
DTI Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa.  Carim underlined, however, 
that South Africa had yet to take a formal a position on any 
of the candidates for the DG position currently held by Dr. 
Supachai Panitchpakdi.  Carim noted the alignment of Brazil 
and South Africa on many issues:  the Doha Development 
agenda, the G20, agricultural negotiations, and IBSA (India, 
Brazil, South Africa) cooperation.  He also hailed the just 
concluded preferential trade agreement between the Southern 
African Customs Union (SACU-South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, 
Namibia, and Swaziland) and Mercosur.  (South Africa's Head 
of Delegation at the WTO, Faizel Ismael, had been scheduled 
to introduce the Ambassador, but was not able to attend 
because he was held up in a meeting with Minister Mpahlwa.) 
 
3.  Ambassador Correa spoke briefly about the strong 
relationship between South Africa and Brazil and its long 
roots.  He focused mostly on the WTO, however, which he 
called a central and pivotal organization in the 
international system.  He underlined the importance of the 
WTO in terms of fair trade and dispute settlement.  He also 
discussed the road from the disaster of Seattle to the launch 
of the Doha Development Agenda; the missed deadlines and 
fiasco of Cancun; and the success of last July's Geneva 
meeting in reaching a framework for modalities for the 
negotiations.  He noted the importance of the WTO choosing 
its next DG so as to avoid adding another crisis as 
negotiations move forward with the target for the December 
Ministerial in Hong Kong.  Agriculture was the biggest 
challenge remaining, and one reason it was so difficult was 
because we were breaking new ground, but he did not minimize 
the difficulties in other areas.   It was important that the 
Doha round be concluded successfully and timely.   The future 
of the WTO was important for all trade, North-North, 
South-South, and North-South.  Another big challenge was to 
give the developing countries a sense of ownership.  There 
were also issues of fairness and capacity. 
 
4.  Ambassador Correa underlined that development should 
remain at the core of the Doha negotiations and that 
agriculture was the most important issue from the development 
perspective.  He lauded the formation of the G20 in the 
lead-up to Cancun and its success in coordinating the 
positions of developing countries.  He said the G20 had a 
tremendous stake in the system and assuring that the 
negotiations succeeded.  The G20 had 60% of the world's 
population.  Ambassador Correa said that it was Brazil that 
was putting forward his candidacy and that Brazil believed it 
would be appropriate to have someone from a developing 
country at the helm of the WTO. 
 
5.  Ambassador Correa emphasized that the WTO was and should 
remain a member-driven organization, as should 
decision-making based on consensus.  He saw the role of the 
DG as doing what the members ask and trying to foster 
consensus. 
 
6.  Following his presentation, Ambassador Correa responded 
to questions from the audience (NGOs, unions, private 
companies, academics, SA government officials, diplomats) 
with the following points. 
 
-- He did not see a conflict of interest between Brazil's 
role in the G20 and having a Brazilian as the DG. 
 
-- He was not alarmed by the proliferation of regional trade 
agreements and said they could be a boost to the system.  "We 
cannot put the genie back in the bottle."  This feature was 
here to stay. 
 
-- The multilateral trade rules need to be broader, fairer 
and enforceable. 
 
-- He saw a firm commitment from both the United States and 
the EU to achieve results and to conclude the round. 
 
-- He disagreed with a person who said dispute settlement 
favors the developed countries.  He noted Brazil frequently 
used the system.  "We've won some, lost some."   While 
dispute settlement was not part of Doha's single undertaking, 
he said that dispute settlement "can be improved, and has to 
be improved."  It was important that decisions be fair and 
based on legal principles. 
 
-- He thought there was time to conclude the negotiations by 
December in Hong Kong, noting that the negotiations were not 
stalled and would not stop.  It was important for the WTO's 
credibility to conclude the negotiations in a timely manner. 
The negotiations in Geneva were moving at a very fast pace 
and the chair was very energetic.  There would be a 
two-and-a-half hour Mini-Ministerial meeting in Davos at the 
end of the month hosted by the Swiss government and a 
full-fledged Mini-Ministerial in May with OECD Ministers. 
There was also talk of another Mini-Ministerial between 
January and May that possibly could take place in Africa.  A 
G20 Ministerial would take place February 19-20.  In general, 
the hope was to have by the time of a Ministerial meeting in 
July a clear picture of what can be achieved by Hong Kong. 
 
-- Regarding a question about the role of the WTO in the 
future, he did not see it returning to a GATT-like 
organization that existed before the Uruguay Round, nor did 
he see the WTO as evolving into a UN-style development 
agency.   There were various shades of possibilities in 
between these extremes but he did not have a particular 
position.  "You learn as you go."  He reiterated, however, 
his position that the WTO remain member-driven and operate on 
the basis of consensus.  The DG does not operate like the CEO 
of an organization.  The most important thing was to 
negotiate and conclude this round, and particularly to bring 
agriculture under multilateral rules.  He acknowledged that a 
number of issues may come up in the future, and he could see, 
for example, changing the way the ministerial meetings are 
organized. 
MILOVANOVIC