So who should run the world's top financial institutions? You may remember a year ago, there was considerable debate surrounding the candidacy of a Nigerian, the current Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the job of World Bank president. She failed in that bid. The job went in the end to an American, as indeed it has done, ever since the World Bank was created some 70 years ago. The IMF's managing director has likewise always been a European. And even the more modern and supposedly democratic World Trade Organisation has - with just one exception - always been run by rich world candidates. Well, this year, that could change. The incumbent Pascal Lamy is to step down and a number of emerging economy candidates are in the running to replace him. One of the bookies' favourites is Roberto Azevedo, Brazil's ambassador to the organisation. He's called on developing world nations to rally behind him, to provide, he says, a stronger voice for the poor world to rebalance global trade in its favour. As part of his pitch ahead of next month's election, he stepped into the Business Daily's studio to offer his vision of the future. Was it time now for the poor world, I asked, to have its own man at the top of world trade?
"They don't need their own men. I think anybody who steps in and who sits at that chair is not going to be from a developing country any more. The moment that I sit there, I will not be a Brazilian any more. I will be the director general of all member states, of all member countries. And therefore, I will be following instructions from members, not from my government or anybody else. So being independent and being impartial is part of the job."
