US embassy cable - 05GENEVA1094

UNCLAS GENEVA 001094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS USTR FOR ALLGEIER AND DWOSKIN 
EB/OT FOR CRAFT 
USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIKH, MTND/HENKE, FAA/SE/WILSON 
USDOC FOR ITA/JACOBS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD WTRO USTR, Trade 
SUBJECT: WTO DG RACE - LAMY AND PEREZ DEL CASTILLO TO BE FINAL 
CANDIDATES 
 
 
1.  The General Council chair, Ambassador Mohamed of Kenya, held 
informal consultations on the evening of April 29 to present the 
results of the second round of consultations over the selection 
and appointment of the next WTO Director-General.  She recalled 
the procedures for selecting a Director-General, and she paid 
tribute to Brazil and Ambassador Seixas Correa for accepting the 
results of the first round of consultations, explaining that 
Brazil's willingness to abide by the agreed procedures has helped 
keep the process "smoothly moving forward on its own track, 
without disruption to the substantive business of the Doha 
Development Agenda."  She said that all Members, and all 
candidates, are united in their view that the WTO's top priority 
is the successful conclusion of the upcoming Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong. 
 
2. The chair then presented the results of round two, announcing 
that candidate from Mauritius, Jaya Krishna Cuttaree, is the 
least likely candidate of the three to attract consensus.  She 
further added that, based on the information presented in this 
round, Pascal Lamy is the candidate that enjoyed the highest 
level of support among Members, both in terms of preferences and 
in breadth of support.  144 of the 148 Members provided views in 
this round; of these, 122 are Geneva-based, and 22 are non- 
resident delegations.  Of the four Members that did not express 
views, only one is a non-resident delegation. 
 
3. The chair then announced that the third and final round of 
consultations will begin during the week of 9 May, and it will 
be based on a revised slate of the two remaining candidates - 
Pascal Lamy of France and Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay. 
She reminded Members that views expressed during the first two 
rounds of consultations will not be used in the final round, and 
she urged all Members to come forward and express the views of 
their respective authorities regarding the question, "what are 
your preferences?"  She explained that she hoped to conclude the 
third and final round of consultations as soon as possible, 
keeping in mind that a final decision is to be taken by May 31 at 
the latest. 
 
4. At the end of her prepared statement, she informed the Members 
that Cuttaree has withdrawn his candidacy.  She paid tribute to 
Cuttaree and his government for being gracious in accepting the 
results of the process and "leading by example."  There were no 
comments or statements from the floor.  Deily