SUNS 4352 Wednesday 13 January 1999

Trade: Rossier to hold consultations on DG choice



Geneva, 12 Jan (TWN) -- Trade envoys, at an informal heads of delegations meeting of the General Council, agreed Tuesday that the Swiss Representative, Amb. William Rossier, should carry on as the sole facilitator and conduct consultations on the choice of the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
The change is necessitated by Rossier's co-facilitator, Celso Lafer of Brazil, demitting his post here as Brazil's ambassador to become a Minister in Brasilia, heading a key, powerful ministry of Development, Trade and Industry.

In confirming Rossier as the sole facilitator, several envoys underscored the need for an expeditious process of consultation to enable a new target date in February for naming the successor to Renato Ruggiero due to lay down office end April.

But with the US and the EU so far not indicating their choice or their readiness to accept any of the four candidates in the running, and involved increasingly in bitter trade fights, it was not at clear that
a successor would be named over the next couple of weeks.