WTO welcomes Okonjo-Iweala on first day as DG
The World Trade Organization has welcomed a former Nigerian Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as she takes over as its new Director-General on Monday.
On February 15, the WTO’s 164 members unanimously selected the 66-year-old development economist to serve a four-year term as director-general,
“Welcome to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her first day as WTO Director-General! She makes history as the first woman and first African to take up this post,” the Geneva-based wactchdog said in a tweet on Monday.
The WTO had in October 2020 announced Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee as the remaining two out of an initial eight contenders for the job.
But the selection process was stalled after a WTO selection panel recommended Okonjo-Iweala as chief but the US administration of former President Donald Trump blocked her candidacy and backed Myung-hee instead.
On Feb. 5, Myung-hee withdrew her name after months of diplomatic pressure to bow out, and the US President Joe Biden’s administration threw its support behind Okonjo-Iweala.
The Geneva-based watchdog has gone without a director-general since Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo quit a year early in August and his replacement must contend with a COVID-induced recession, US-China tensions and rising protectionism.
