7:43 AM Apr 26, 1993
US-EC TO COME UP WITH NEW CANDIDATE FOR GATT DG ?
Geneva 24 Apr (TWN) -- The European Community and the United States might come up with the name of another candidate of their own to succeed GATT Director-General Arthur Dunkel, according to some Third World GATT delegates. The name of their earlier candidate, Peter Sutherland of Ireland, a former EC Commissioner, put forward informally had been withdrawn from consideration equally informally. The Chairman of the GATT Contracting Parties, Amb. Balkrishna Zutshi, has now given all the contracting parties time till April 30 to put forward new names on the basis of which he will hold further consultations. On Friday, at the informal meeting of the Third World countries in the GATT, where Zutshi conveyed the information about Sutherland's name having been taken out and the new deadline he had proposed, a number of delegations though felt that Dunkel should be asked to continue say for a year or so. One or two delegations such as Korea and Malaysia are also reported to have said they would convey the situation to their governments and come up with answers. It was not clear whether this meant they would come up with candidates of their own or about Dunkel's continuance. At a meeting Friday evening of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries too when the issue came up, some participants said that the comments of one or two suggested they might be weighing the possibilities of putting forward the name of a candidate.