France's Pascal Lamy and Mauritian Foreign Minister Jaya Krishna Cuttaree seemed in pole position to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the latest soundings of members' views, diplomats said.

As the penultimate round of consultations drew to a close, Uruguay's former trade envoy Carlos Perez del Castillo, the only other contender, appeared to be trailing and was expected to have to drop out of the race, they said.

The 148-member WTO, which is anxious to avoid the tensions between rich and poor states that dogged the choice of the current director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi, have set themselves until the end of May to reach a "consensus" decision.

"It looks very much like the run-off will be between Lamy and Cuttaree," said one senior diplomat from a developing country, who declined to be named.

The head of the WTO's executive General Council, Amina Mohamed of Kenya, leads a group of three ambassadors charged with carrying out the soundings.

The three could then take a day or two to assess the information before calling a meeting of ambassadors to the Geneva-based WTO to give their verdict on which of the three remaining contenders had least support and must give up.

There were initially four candidates to take over from Supachai, who stands down at the end of August, but Brazil's WTO ambassador Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa was knocked out in the first round earlier this month.

VERY CONFIDENT

"I am very confident that he will make the next round," said Mauritian ambassador to the WTO Naresh Serransing, referring to his minister, who surprised many by coming second to Lamy after the initial round of soundings.

However, some diplomats warned there could be a surprise given the complexity of the selection process, with the degree of opposition to a candidate also having to be weighed in addition to the support he receives.

Unlike the heads of the International Monetary Fund, or World Bank, the WTO chief has no executive power although he can exert strong personal influence.

Cuttaree, 63, is officially backed by poorer WTO states grouped in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc, has since gained the public endorsement of at least one major WTO member when India said it was switching allegiance to him after its first choice Seixas Correa was defeated.

The 58-year-old Lamy, the former European Union Trade Commissioner, has rock-solid support from the Europeans.

He is also seen picking up backing from some poorer developing countries, which warmed to his suggestion that they should not have to make any sacrifices in the WTO's current Doha Round of free trade negotiations.

At the last election in 1999, divisions were so deep the WTO ended up splitting the job between former New Zealand prime minister Mike Moore and Supachai, with each serving three years.

The acrimony contributed to the failure of a trade ministers meeting in Seattle later that year, forcing the launch of a new trade liberalization round to be delayed two years until 2001.

Diplomats fear that if a similar battle developed this time, it could jeopardize the chances of the Doha round concluding in 2006 as planned. (Reuters)