The selection of the new director-general of the World Trade Organisation starts in earnest on Friday, with the four-way race still regarded by most observers as too close to call.

The four candidates--the Uruguayan Carlos Pérez del Castillo, the Brazilian Luiz Felipe de Seixas Corrêa, the Mauritian Jaya Krishna Cuttaree and the Frenchman Pascal Lamy--have been spending the three months since the January 1 deadline for nominations trying to drum up support from the WTO's 148 member states.