US 'very comfortable' with Lamy as possible WTO head

BRUSSELS (AFP) — A senior State Department official said Washington would be "very comfortable" with former EU trade chief Pascal Lamy running the WTO but denied a deal had been done to back him in exchange for EU support for the US's controversial candidate at the World Bank.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick hailed Lamy, his personal friend, as an excellent candidate to be head of the World Trade Organisation amid growing concerns among developing nations that rich countries are doing backroom deals to fill top international jobs with their own.

Lamy, who is French and who worked closely with Zoellick when the latter was US trade representative, is currently the European Union's candidate to become the next WTO director general.

"I obviously consider commissioner Lamy both as a friend and a very accomplished trade leader," Zoellick said at a news conference at the European Parliament ...