France deplores withdrawal of Morocco's candidate to WTO top post

France deplored the withdrawal of the candidacy of Moroccan Hassan Abouyoub to the post of director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said French Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin.

The French official who was addressing on Monday the second conference of the Asian-European forum convened in Berlin recalled that France had backed Abouyoub's candidacy.

He added that following this withdrawal, France would not oppose the consensus that emerged within the forum in favor of Thailand's candidate, Supachai Panitchpakdi.

Morocco announced on March 22 its decision to withdraw the candidacy of Hassan Abouyoub to the post of WTO director general after it noted that the conditions of transparency and fairness that were to lead to a democratic consensus are no longer gathered.

Morocco expressed recognition to the African, Arab, Asian, European and Latin American countries for their backing to the Moroccan candidate.

Last week in Paris, Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance Fathallah Oualalou and adviser to King Hassan II for economic and financial affairs Andre Azoulay expressed Morocco's thanks to France for its backing to the Moroccan candidate.

The WTO is supposed to replace by April 14 its first director general, Renato Ruggiero of Italy, who is not running for another term.

Besides Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, two other candidates are running for the position, namely former trade minister of Canada Roy MacLaren and New Zealand's former prime minister, Michael Moore.

The appointment is made on the basis of consensus.