WTO: Wanted New Chair Of Agriculture Negotiations

Is anyone else wondering why MFAT has left open the Deputy Secretary job vacated by Derek Leask who has gone to London to warm the seat for Winston Peters? Because the WTO Ministerial keeps being delayed, and until it is held, the MFAT CEO is not wanting to risk undermining the WTO negotiating process by announcing that the current chair of the key agriculture negotiation Crawford Falconer has been appointed Deputy Secretary, and that he will have to return to Wellington (there is agreement in the WTO that the negotiating group chairs have to be based in Geneva). So the announcement will be delayed until late April or early May - whenever the WTO Ministerial meeting is over. We will hold back on comment on this appointment until it is made. Likewise we will keep dangling the news on Falconer's replacement. He has a busy few weeks ahead, so we don't want to put him off his step.