Brasília - Ricardo Neiva Tavares, official spokesman for the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations (Itamaraty), informed today that the Brazilian government plans to launch the candidacy of Ambassador Luiz Felipe Seixas Corrêa for the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is already holding consultations with its partners.

The mandate of the current Director, Supachai Panitchpakdi, from Thailand, ends in September, 2005. Seixas Corrêa's candidacy should be formally announced in December. Uruguay also has a candidate, Carlos Perez Del Castillo, Uruguayan Presidential Adviser for International Trade Affairs.

Ambassador Seixas Corrêa, who took a law degree at the Cândido Mendes University, in Rio de Janeiro, twice held the post of Secretary General of the Itamaraty and was Ambassador to Mexico, Spain, and Argentina. He is currently the permanent Brazilian representative to the WTO and the United Nations, in Geneva.

"The Brazilian government believes that, if elected, Ambassador Seixas Corrêa can make a substantial contribution to the strengthening of the WTO, the multilateral trade system, and the successful conclusion of the Doha Round," the Itamaraty note states.

"[Seixas Corrêa] has been playing a relevant role, recognized by all, in the context of the Doha Round, the coordination of the Group of 20 in Geneva, and in other important international negotiations," the note goes on.

The WTO, created in 1995, comprises 145 countries and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Luciana Vasconcelos
Translator: David Silberstein
10/08/2004