GENEVA: The World Trade Organization ran into a snag Tuesday when selecting the head of its trade court, despite a call from chief Pascal Lamy for members to be pragmatic in their negotiations.
The WTO met for the two-day meeting of its General Council, its main ruling body, where it elected a new chairman but could not agree on the dispute body head.
Norway's WTO ambassador, Elin Johansen, who currently heads the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) was elected chair of the General Council for one year.
She replaced Nigerian Yonov Frederick Agah but will continue as head of the DSB until a successor is found.
The council, which operates on consensus, was unable to agree on choosing Kwok Fook Seng, the Singaporean head of mission, to replace her.
The WTO did not comment on this, but some diplomats said that although the Singaporean had the backing of all of the 11 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries, agreement was not reached.
Some said they believed that India would have preferred a different DSB chair, since that person normally goes on to head the General Council, and Singapore is viewed as being a developed rather than developing nation.
WTO members go to the dispute body when they think their rights are infringed under trade agreements and they want a ruling.
The next meeting of trade ministers in 2013 is likely select a new director general of the WTO when Lamy finishes his term and the chair of the General Council plays a key role in that.
In a speech to the WTO meeting Lamy warned members that "2012 cannot and should not be a wasted year".
He said that in recent meetings with business representatives, "I heard clear concerns that the proliferation of bilateral and regional trade arrangements risked scattering the global multilateral playing field."
Lamy said members of the WTO have urged the General Council to "move in small steps on issues where consensus exists and keep expectations manageable -- that is a strong sense of pragmatism, avoiding dogmatism."
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