His current title, therefore, is WTO Director General Designate.

The election was delayed, Supachai, explained during a one-on-one interview with Conference News Daily, and was not finally resolved until June of 1999. That delayed the start of preparations for Seattle, he continued, and is partly to blame for the collapse of the Seattle meeting.

"But there was no one thing that should be blamed for Seattle," he said, adding that it was the first time the WTO had had to deal with a concrete agenda put forth by the developing countries, and the first time it was faced with the "new issues" of labor and the environment.

"But Seattle was by no means a waste of time," he said. "It was a learning process, quite useful, part of the WTO's growing-up process." Nor does he see Seattle as a "failure" or a defeat for the WTO. "Yes, we have become more mindful of the voices of civil society since then," he said, "but we haven't lost the battle."

But what, he was asked, about the complaints of some developing countries that their views are being ignored? "In the past six years," he replied, "the trade revenues of developing countries have grown by $1 trillion. Of course, they have not all gained equally, with 20 out of 100 countries accounting for most of the growth. My mission," he continued, "is to see to it that we widen the number of countries that can benefit from trade liberalization."

The point is, he said, that the countries that have had the greatest success are "those that have globalized the most."

Most of those success stories, he was reminded, took place in his own corner of the world, Southeast Asia. "Yes," he replied, "Asian values may be more open to innovations-that may explain part of it." The really decisive factor, "the major driving force" behind successful globalization, he said, is "political will," otherwise known as leadership. "The leadership role is of critical importance," he said. "That is what is needed for openness." Those countries that have not succeeded in the global marketplace, such as in Africa, he said, have had to cope with a range of cultural, social, political and economic issues. "One of my principles," Supachai said, "is that the WTO is not responsible by itself for capacity building."

He stressed that the organization must deal with social and other issues as part of a team, by forming coalitions with agencies such as the World Bank, IMF, Unctad, Unido, the WHO, ILO, Unep and the UN Development Programme.

"We have to bring our expertise together," he said, "and coordinate our efforts to mainstream trade into development." He conceded, though, that this is "more easily said than done."

He explained that the linkage of trade with development is a relatively recent phenomenon. "In the past eight rounds of trade talks, the focus was on the interests of the industrial countries."

Does he feel that the WTO has an image problem in the developing world? Is it in need of a public-relations boost? Supachai said he didn't think so. If the organization is to win friends, he said, it will not be because of a PR campaign. "Actions will speak louder than words," he said, adding that the organization has got to show the developing countries it is responsive to their concerns. "Now we have the chance to do it," he said.

"The developing countries' issues are being discussed here in Doha. We have to find out how we can prepare the developing countries to participate in this new round," citing fundamental needs such as market reform and legal reform requisite for taking part in the global marketplace.

"It all comes down to political will," he repeated, "and political will must be based on enlightened thinking by the leadership. Look at Singapore. Look at Indonesia."

He conceded that exercising such leadership can be difficult for politicians concerned about the next election. "It's hard to tell people they have to be more efficient, that they need to spend more on education, that they have to be open to other societies."

His own focus, as a former politician - he served twice as Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Commerce before coming to WTO - is to help shape the WTO's mission. "I hope people can say the WTO really does care, not just about trade but about human beings, including gender equality, employment and decent work." To do that, he added, the organization will have to work collaboratively with agencies such as the International Labor Organization and others in the UN system.

"People think the WTO has teeth," he said, "because of possibility of trade sanctions. But trade sanctions never really work. They only impoverish the people you should be trying to help."

Several times during this conversation, Supachai referred to the need to promote education. He himself was educated in Holland, studying economics with Nobelist Jan Tinbergen, and was a visiting fellow at Cambridge, studying with another Nobelist, Richard Stone. After receiving his degree he spent 12 years with the Central Bank of Thailand before moving into the area of public service. He noted that he left the government, to go into private practice, in 1996; Thailand's economic crisis began in 1997.

Now, while awaiting his turn at the helm of the WTO, Supachai has been giving thought to ways the organization and other key players in global trade and economics might be improved. "We must rethink the process of consensus building," he said, adding that he has suggested a consensus building commission within the WTO, with rotating membership, to consider particularly difficult issues. He also said he thinks the G7 group of economic powerhouses has to expand its membership, perhaps to become G15, with China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia added to its roster, among others. "It will have to talk more about economic inequality," he said.

Supachai said that, despite all the criticism that globalization has had to put up with, it has also provided vitally important instruments for protecting the world's economic well-being. "The world economy did not crash after September 11," he said, "and that was because of coordinated action by the leading countries. What has given us those instruments, he added, "is globalization."