W.T.O Officially Selects Okonjo-Iweala as Its Director-General the first African women
The 66-year-old will be the first woman and the first African to occupy the position. The Harvard-educated development economist is seen as a down-to-earth, hard worker, W.T.O told BBC Hard Talk in July. WASHINGTON — The World Trade Organization on Monday officially selected Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian economist and former finance minister, to be its next leader. The first woman and first African to serve as director-general, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will assume the post on March 1 for a renewable term expiring on Aug. 31, 2025.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement that she was honored to have been selected and would work with the organization’s member countries to address health issues brought about by the pandemic and “get the global economy going again.”
“A strong W.T.O is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said. “Our organization faces a great many challenges but working together we can collectively make the W.T.O. stronger, more agile, and better adapted to the realities of today.”
By October, most countries had announced their support for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala. But Trump administration officials continued to express support for South Korea’s Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, saying they believed she had more trade experience, an impasse that left the organization without a leader for several months. After the Biden administration came into office, Ms. Yoo dropped her candidacy and the United States announced its support for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
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. She was the first woman to serve as the country's Finance Minister and the first woman to serve in that office twice. In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the year.
She left her family in Washington, where her husband works as a neurosurgeon, to work in Nigeria, where unlike other ministers she did not have a large domestic staff or fleet of cars. Okonjo-Iweala argued during the race that she was best placed out of the eight candidates for the post to steer the W.T.O through the crises. "I am a reform candidate," she insisted.
She has among other things warned that growing protectionism and nationalism have been spurred on by the pandemic and insists barriers need to be lowered to help the world recover.
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