WTO Chief Lamy Wins Brazilian Govt Support For Second Term

GENEVA (AFP)--Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim said Tuesday he would support World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy's bid for a second term as head of the institution.

"I support Pascal Lamy's candidature for the new director-general, I told him today," he told journalists after a meeting with the WTO chief in Geneva.

"I encourage him. I think he's a great asset for the organization, he's someone who has shown fairness, understanding, courage, but at the same time equilibrium, so he has the qualities to continue to steer" the organization, said Amorim.

The Brazilian minister's support for Lamy followed rumors he was himself seeking to take over as head of the WTO.

Lamy took up his post at the WTO on Sept. 1, 2005 and the Frenchman's mandate will end in August 2009. According to the WTO's rules, he has to decide by Dec. 1 if he will stand for a second term.