The Group of 77 developing countries has disagreed with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's plans to appoint World Trade Organization chief Supachai Panitchpakdi to lead the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, a local daily reported Tuesday.

The Jamaican ambassador to the United Nations, who is chairman of the G-77, phoned his Thai counterpart to inform the group's intention to call for the postponement of a scheduled U.N. General Assembly meeting Tuesday, which is slated to appoint Supachai as head of UNCTAD, the Matichon Daily quoted a Thai Foreign Ministry report as saying.

Annan said Monday he has nominated Supachai to head UNCTAD for a four-year term beginning Sept. 1. A former Thai deputy prime minister, Supachai is due to step down as WTO director general in August.

Several members of the G-77 were dissatisfied with the nomination "because the UNCTAD is an important organization for developing countries, but the WTO's goal and interest are the opposite," the daily said.

Instead of the customary practice in nominating a leader of the U.N. body by applause, the G-77 wants to call on the General Assembly to vote, the daily added.

"The G-77 contacted the Thai representative in advance because the group does not want Thailand to misunderstand that it has conflicts with or opposes Thailand," the newspaper said.

The daily said the G-77 is opposed to Annan's nomination process. It quoted the Thai ministry report as saying, "the selection process for the secretary general of the UNCTAD has been gradually made by Mr. Annan. Candidates have been interviewed, but finally they were told that the position would be given to an outsider."

"Mr. Supachai has never indicated his interest in the position and he has never applied for the position," the newspaper said.

Candidates for UNCTAD chief include Philippines' Rodolfo Severino, former secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Cambodian Vice Commerce Minister Sok Siphana, and the current Pakistani and Bangladeshi ambassadors to the United Nations.

With support from developing members of the WTO, Supachai became director general of the global trade body in 2002 for a three-year term, which is to expire at the end of August.

After a fierce race with New Zealand's candidate Mike Moore, who was strongly supported by the United States, the appointment of Supachai was made through a compromise, in which both candidates were given a three-year term in office instead of the normal four-year term.