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France's Pascal Lamy emerged the top candidate to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the first round of consultations among members on Friday.
Lamy, the former European Union trade chief, was followed by the foreign minister of Mauritius, Jayen Krishna Cuttaree, and Uruguay's former ambassador to the WTO Carlos Perez del Castillo, said Amina Mohamed, Kenya's ambassador to the WTO and head of the election process.

The Brazilian candidate, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, stands last of the four hopefuls, she said.

Outgoing WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand ends his term on Aug. 31 and his replacement is expected to be picked by May after several rounds of closed-door consultations among the group' s 148 members.

According to WTO rules for choosing new leader, the bottom-ranked candidate will be dropped after each round of consultations and only three candidates could stay in the second consultation slated for April 21.

The term of the WTO chief is six years and bitter divisions among members during the last election in 1999 have forced the group to split the term between New Zealand's Mike Moore and Supachai, with each getting three years in the job.

Task Force on U.N. Overhaul Impressed

By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press Writer

Friday, April 15, 2005

(04-15) 17:54 PDT UNITED NATIONS, (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the co-chairman of a congressional task force to examine United Nations reform, said Friday he was impressed with U.N. officials' apparent desire to fix the world body.

Gingrich, a Republican, said U.N. officials recognized that the opportunity was right after years of promises that had brought no significant change.

"There was no argument today about the fact that there are systems that just don't work, there are patterns that just aren't acceptable," Gingrich told reporters during a visit to the United Nations.

He was accompanied by fellow co-chair George Mitchell, a Maine Democrat and former Senate majority leader. They met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other top U.N. officials.

"As somebody who's often been a critic of the U.N. and a critic on occasion of Secretary-General Annan, I thought we could not have asked for more candid, more open, private discussions," Gingrich said.

The task force plans to complete its report to Congress on a possible U.N. reforms by June. The co-chairs said their goal is to come up with U.S. action that could strengthen the United Nations.

"An effective United Nations is in the American national interest and we think it is the national interests of other countries as well," Mitchell said.

The Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration are expected to act on the task force's recommendations before world leaders meet at the U.N. General Assembly in September to consider Annan's proposals for an overhaul of the world body.

In March, Annan outlined his plan, which among other things would seek more development spending by rich countries and expand the Security Council — the premier U.N. decision-making body.

The changes would be the most sweeping in its 60-year history of the United Nations.

The task force is also looking at a host of scandals that have rocked the United Nations, from allegations of wrongdoing in the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq to sex abuse by peacekeepers in Congo and other missions.

Several congressional committees are investigating the oil-for-food program. The United Nations also ordered an independent probe being conducted by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, with a final report is expected this summer.

"It is clear that there are serious systemic problems, some of which are internal to the U.N. operations, some of which reflect on the Security Council rather badly, and some of which reflect on the major powers, and I would not exclude Washington," Gingrich said.