The director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, said on Tuesday he would seek a second term as head of the organisation.

Lamy's entire first term has been dominated by the WTO's Doha round, launched seven years ago in the Qatari capital to open up world trade.

In a letter to the chairman of the WTO General Council, Bruce Gosper, he said that concluding the Doha round would go a long way towards establishing a multilateral trading system and ensuring that opening up trade would serve developing countries -- goals Lamy said he would fight for when he took the job.

"I would hereby like to notify you of my decision to seek reappointment as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation for a further term upon the expiry of the current one on 31 August 2009," said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Brazil's Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, himself frequently tipped as a future head of the WTO, said he had encouraged Lamy to run again.

"I think he's a great asset for the organisation. He is someone who has shown fairness, understanding, courage but at the same time equilibrium, so he has the qualities to continue to steer this ship," he told reporters after meeting Lamy earlier on Tuesday.

In July, the marathon-running Frenchman suffered a big disappointment when ministers failed to secure a breakthrough in the Doha talks despite coming close in many areas.

Lamy argues that reaching a deal in the Doha talks would boost confidence in a world economy staggering from the global finance crisis and ward off protectionism.

In a speech on Monday to the Geneva Shipping and Trading Association, Lamy said the current financial chaos meant that greater regulation was needed for both trade and finance.

"What is desperately needed at a time like this is to restore trust in markets by reassuring investors that they are still operating within a rules-based international trade and financial system," he said. - Reuters