India, China and South Africa (Brics) were certainly unanimous in their support, and after Indonesia's Mari Pangestu had been knocked out, at least three more Asian countries switched to the Brazilian candidate.

Brazil's good relations with emerging countries clearly weighed in the balance, whereas Blanco, backed by the United States, Japan and Britain, was seen as an advocate of free-market values. Despite Brussels' call for a united front in favour of the Mexican, divisions among European Union member states sealed the latter's fate.

According to the Brazilian daily Valor, President Dilma Rousseff called her French opposite number François Hollande the week before the vote, who allegedly told her that France had not yet taken a decision "but that it would vote for a name, not a country".

Azevedo joined Brazil's diplomaticservice in 1984 and was allocated to the permanent mission in Geneva in 1997. Four years later he helped set up a dispute settlement unit at the foreign ministry. With the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003, Brazil started to play a leading role in the WTO, acting as one of the main negotiators alongside the EU, China and the US.

As the head of the Brazilian delegation, he successfully campaigned against subsidies in rich countries, in particular cotton in the US and sugar in the EU. He has taken part in all the ministerial conferences so far in the Doha round.

The main handicap for Azevedo was Rousseff's protectionist policies, with a range of tax incentives and higher customs duty on about 100 imported goods.