Lamy re-appointed as WTO head for a second term

Geneva, 30 Apr (Kanaga Raja) -- The WTO General Council on Thursday afternoon agreed to re-appoint Pascal Lamy as Director-General of the organization for a second term of four years commencing from 1 September 2009.
 
The official re-appointment of Lamy follows from the presentation of his "vision" for the organization a day earlier at the General Council, which was also accompanied by a question-and-answer session with the full membership.
 
In his presentation to the General Council on Wednesday, Lamy had stated that concluding the Doha Development Round and delivering on the negotiating mandate of the round remained the "litmus test of our collective ability to strengthen the global trading system."
 
In his view, the main objective of the WTO for the years to come is to strengthen the role of the organization as the global trade body, making it "more development-friendly" and "more user-friendly", so that its benefits are felt by all, large and small, rich and poor, strong and weak. (See SUNS #6691 dated 30 April 2009.)
 
Following a lengthy statement by Lamy on Wednesday morning setting forth his views for the future of the organization, the entire day's session was devoted to questions from members and replies from the Director-General.
 
The General Council then reconvened on Thursday afternoon to take a decision on the re-appointment of Lamy. It turned out to be a very short session lasting only about a quarter-hour, with members taking a unanimous decision to re-appointment him for a further four years. +