WTO's Lamy to attend G20 London summit

GENEVA (Reuters) - World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy will attend the G20 summit of rich and emerging countries in London on April 2, the WTO said on Tuesday.

Lamy's presence indicates that world trade -- a priority for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who is hosting the meeting -- will be firmly on the agenda, besides fixing the global financial system and reviving the ailing world economy.

"He's been asked by Prime Minister Brown to come -- trade is on the agenda," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told Reuters.

Many countries are reporting double-digit drops in exports as demand evaporates in the crisis. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are forecasting that trade, the lifeblood of the world economy, will contract this year for the first time since 1982.

Lamy did not attend the previous G20 summit in Washington in November which called on leaders to seek a deal in the WTO's long-running Doha round of trade liberalization talks by the end of the 2008. The meeting also called on countries not to raise trade barriers which could exacerbate the crisis.

Since then the WTO has been monitoring the trade policies of its 153 member states for signs of protectionism, and will issue an updated report on that the week before the G20 meeting.

One senior WTO ambassador said that unlike a report in January, the updated version would have teeth and "name and shame."

Political leaders are under pressure to save jobs and production at home but are aware that protectionism could deepen the crisis by cutting off export opportunities, as happened in the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Lamy decided against calling trade ministers to Geneva in December, as the Frenchman felt that gaps among major trading powers were still too great for an agreement.

Rockwell said Lamy would be able to brief world leaders on protectionism, the Doha round, trade finance and the Aid-for-Trade program designed to channel aid into helping developing countries improve their export capacity.

Lamy will chair a meeting of experts on trade finance in Geneva on Wednesday. Trade finance, which funds about 90 percent of the $14 trillion in world trade, dried up last year in the credit crunch, exacerbating the downturn in exports.

He will also visit Washington next week to meet the new U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, and other members of the President Barack Obama's administration, provided the U.S. Senate has confirmed Kirk by then, Rockwell said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Richard Balmforth)