Candidates for WTO chief meet members for presentation

GENEVA -- With the selection process for the new head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) entering the second phase, three of the candidates presented themselves with members at a special General Council meeting on Wednesday.

They each had one hour and a half to make their candidacy presentations and take questions from the membership.

The first presenter, former WTO Deputy Director-General Jesus Seade Kuri of Mexico, said the global trade body needs a chief with vision, leadership and political capacity.

"It is of the essence that the Director-General has a solid command of the arcane world of the WTO and trade negotiations; that he or she be aware and be sensitive to the reasons behind certain balances in the texts, and in command of the alternatives that may have been formulated or could be explored," he noted.

Seade has an extensive experience with working with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The Mexican candidate was also chief negotiator of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.