Brussels, Jun 9 (AP) The European Union's trade commissioner said Tuesday that he is considering standing for the top job at the World Trade Organization if the 27 EU countries endorse him, but he maintains that whoever takes over at the helm of global trade's governing body has a major task ahead of them.

Current WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo announced last month that he will step down on August 31, ending a seven-year tenure marked recently by intense pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused the Geneva-based trade body of “unfair” treatment of the United States.

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"Certainly, I am exploring the option of being a candidate for the director-general of the WTO," EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan told reporters after video-conference talks with the bloc's trade ministers.

"I think there is an important amount of work to be done to reform the organization, to make it is more effective and efficient but also to deal with many of the important trade issues that are bedeviling the international community now arising from COVID 19," Hogan said.

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Hogan, who is from Ireland, only took up his post in Brussels six months ago and is deeply involved in trade talks linked to Britain's departure from the EU.

He said he in an “exploratory stage” of his WTO candidature as he awaits a green-light from the 27 member countries, possibly in coming weeks.

Hogan said he was "heartened" to hear a majority of ministers say that Europe should have a candidate in the running.

Azevedo said he was stepping down for personal, family reasons.

But the WTO he led was often in the firing line of the Trump administration, which has accused it of letting China get away with unfair state subsidies and for allegedly strong-arming foreign businesses into giving up their intellectual property in order to gain access to the giant Chinese market.

The 25-year-old trade body has never had to fill a vacancy for the director-general post before a term expired, and under WTO rules, a selection process for a successor has to begin as soon as possible.

On Monday, Mexico nominated the economist, trade negotiator and diplomat Jesus Seade Kuri for the top job. (AP) IND 06092008 NNNNnted out that the film focuses more on creating a visual spectacle than highlighting the need for conservation.

Amogha said with “Wild Karnataka”, the team's aim was to celebrate the rich biodiversity of the country and that they will continue to highlight the issue of conservation in their future projects.

“We have got a lot of flak for not talking about conservation issues in this film, but we said, ‘First we have to tell people what we have'. People need to know what they have in their house, before they try to take care of it. This film, as a focus and vision, is just a message of celebration.

“The aim is to make people feel proud of what we have and shed all our cynicism. We believe the positivity and hope will then trigger ground-level changes, which are going to be subjects for our coming projects.”

After working for years with international broadcasters such as the BBC and National Geographic, Kalyan and Amogha said they started feeling the need to look into their “backyard”.

“Five years ago, we felt that it was about time we focused on showcasing our country's biodiversity and make the film for the people of our own country. And feel proud about the amazing diversity we have. That was the idea behind ‘Wild Karnataka',” Kalyan said.

Amogha added, “We thought it was time to look at our own backyard and celebrate. In India, we have this habit of not celebrating what we have. We are always looking outwards. I think this whole journey started for us as an inward journey.”

The documentary not only gave the filmmakers a gave chance to look within as they patiently waited for over three years to get the right footage, but also gifted them an opportunity to collaborate with their inspiration, veteran natural historian David Attenborough, the director said.

“In a documentary where there are no humans, the whole onus is on the narrator. And growing up, both for Kalyan and I, Sir David Attenborough was the biggest inspiration. Today the work we are doing is because we watched his films.

“Getting him on board was beyond our dreams. Like my wildest dream was to get his autograph and I lived that dream for three years. But to get him as a narrator was too special,” he added.

For its digital premiere, the documentary was also dubbed in regional languages by Indian actors Rajkummar Rao (Hindi), Prakash Raj (Telugu & Tamil) and Rishab Shetty (Kannada).

Amogha said the three artistes felt positively about the film and “that sense of pride and the emotion translated very naturally on screen.”

“Wild Karnataka” will air on Discovery and Animal Planet channels throughout June.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)