MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― Herminio Blanco, Mexico’s candidate to lead the World Trade Organization, is a seasoned trade negotiator between wealthy and developing nations who vows to bring credibility back to the global body.

The 62-year-old is no stranger to hard bargaining, having been at the center of the North American Free Trade Agreement a historic pact that came into force in 1994, unleashing massive commerce between the three nations.

For his candidacy to succeed Frenchman Pascal Lamy as WTO director general, Blanco has highlighted his 27 years of experience in reconciling the rival interests of developed and emerging nations.

Blanco, who served as trade minister between 1994 and 2000, played a role in the Uruguay round of talks that led to the creation of the WTO in 1995.

He also led negotiations that led to trade agreements with the European Union and smaller nations including Nicaragua and Bolivia.

“I led negotiations in 10 free trade agreements with countries much richer than mine, but also with some that were less developed,” Blanco told AFP in an interview. “I was successful because I understood the realities of each and every one of them.”

With global trade talks at a standstill, Blanco said that the WTO must “bridge the gap” between the organization’s diverse member nations in order to restore its credibility.

The post of WTO director general is high profile because its holder is tasked with reviving long-stalled talks on boosting global commerce and economic development in the organization’s 159 member states.

“The main challenge is the ”W“ in ”WTO“, I mean the word World,” Blanco said, noting that a number of countries have focused on bilateral and regional deals instead.

“You have to transfer this energy (of negotiating regional agreements) back to Geneva,” where the WTO is based, to prove the usefulness and global reach of the organisation, Blanco said.

Blanco is part of Mexico’s old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed the country without interruption from 1929 until 2000.

The PRI returned to power in December and President Enrique Pena Nieto presented him as Mexico’s WTO candidate.