WTO confirms Nigeria’s Okonjo-iweala as new Director General

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has finally confirmed Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General.
According to the WTO on its website, members of the world trade body just agreed on the appointment of Dr. Okonjo-iweala at its special meeting.
“Members have just agreed to appoint Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General of the WTO.  The decision was taken at a special meeting today of the organization’s General Council,” the statement said.
The organization said Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will become the first woman and the first African to head the WTO.  
She is also expected to take up her duties on 1 March and her term, renewable, will expire on 31 August 2025.
Recall that the Nigeria’s former Finance Minister’s candidacy for the top job got a boost when the Republic of Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee announced withdrawal of her candidacy for the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The United States had earlier expressed support for the candidacy of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after Joe Biden was sworn in as President. 
In a statement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the United States said it takes note of the decision by the Republic of Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee to withdraw her candidacy for Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
The statement has read, “The Biden-Harris Administration is pleased to express its strong support for the candidacy of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General of the WTO,” the statement read.  
The United States noted that Okonjo-Iweala brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy from her 25 years with the World Bank and two terms as Nigerian Finance Minister.  
According to the statement, Okonjo-Iweala is widely respected for her effective leadership and has proven experience managing a large international organization with a diverse membership.   
The Biden-Harris Administration also congratulates Minister Yoo Myung-hee on her strong campaign for this position.  
The United States said it respects her decision to withdraw her candidacy from the Director General race to help facilitate a consensus decision at the WTO.
The US said it is particularly important to underscore that two highly qualified women made it to the final round of consideration for the position of WTO Director General — the first time that any woman has made it to this stage in the history of the institution.   
“The United States stands ready to engage in the next phase of the WTO process for reaching a consensus decision on the WTO Director General.  “The Biden Administration looks forward to working with a new WTO Director General to find paths forward to achieve necessary substantive and procedural reform of the WTO,” it added. 
The WTO has been leaderless since September, when former Director-General Roberto Azevedo stepped down a year before his term was set to expire. Since then the WTO has been overseen by four unelected deputy directors general. 
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert. She sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).
Previously, Okonjo-Iweala spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011). She also served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003–2006, 2011–2015) under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively.
Okonjo was the first woman to become Finance Minister of Nigeria, and first woman to serve in that office twice. In 2005, Euromoney named her global finance minister of the year.
She was on June 4, 2020 nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s candidate for the job of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who has also served as Nigeria’s foreign minister briefly in 2006 was among the eight candidates that vyed for the position.
She is renowned as the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the world bank group in 2012.
In the build up to the appointment, Okonjo-iweala’s opponents in the race include, Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Amina Mohamed (Kenya), Jesús Kuri (Mexico), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Yoo Myung-hee (Korea), Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri (Saudi Arabia), and Liam Fox (UK).
Jesús Seade Kuri, nominated by the Mexican President, Andres Obrador, was the first official candidate for the post.
He is currently the undersecretary for North America in Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and chief negotiator for the US, Mexico and Canada Trade Agreement.
Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh is a senior counsel at King & Spalding and former director of the trade in services and investment division of the WTO.
Also Tudor Ulianovschi, nominated on July 16, by the Republic of Moldova, has served as minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Moldova and has had a distinguished career in diplomatic service for over 15 years.
Yoo Myung-hee, who was the last contestant against Okonjo-iweala, is currently the Minister for Trade of South Korea and the first woman to hold that position. She has a 25 -ear career in Trade.
In the course of the race was equally Amina Mohamed, presently serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage and Culture in Kenya. She was previously Kenya’s foreign affairs and international trade minister.
Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, nominated by Saudi Arabia on July 8, was the Kingdom’s economy and planning minister from November 2017 till March 2020. He is currently the minister advising the royal court on international and local economic strategic matters.
In the same vein, Liam Fox is a member of the UK Parliament and a privy counsellor. He served as International Trade Secretary under prime minister Theresa May from 2016 to 2019.