Okonjo-Iweala Becomes First Female WTO D-G
Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been elected as the first female Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Okonjo-Iweala was declared winner after polling 104 votes out of the 164 members countries of the WTO.
The former World Bank Managing Director defeated South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee to emerge as the new DG of the global trade organisation.
The official announcement is expected to be made by the WTO at 3pm Nigerian time.
Twenty-seven member-states of the European Union had on Tuesday backed Okonjo-Iweala’s bid to become the first African and first female director-general of the WTO.
The EU member states are France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
The latest support for Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy brings the number of countries officially endorsing her to over 100 out of the 164 states that comprise the WTO.
Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee had on October 7, 2020, emerged as the two final candidates for the position of WTO D-G.
Both advanced to the third and final round in the race to lead the Geneva-based trade body.
Three candidates had missed out of the final list for the new WTO director general.
They are: United Kingdom’s Liam Fox, Kenya’s Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril, and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri.
The three candidates did not secure enough support in the second round of consultations, according to people familiar with the matter.
Okonjo-Iweala, a two-time Nigeria’s Finance minister, has experience working at international governance bodies as a former managing director of the World Bank and as a chairman at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
Yoo is South Korea’s trade minister. She has helped expand her country’s trade network through bilateral accords with the U.S., China and the U.K during her 25-year career in government.
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