New WTO chief appointed

THE FORMER World Trade Organisation (WTO) secretary general, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, has been appointed to lead the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for the next four years from September 1.
While still wearing his WTO hat, Supachai emphasised the importance of making significant progress in the Doha development agenda (DDA) talks by the end of July - to provide a sound basis for a successful WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December.