Sequel to recent developments in the tight race for the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), all seems set by the organization to appoint Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its first female and first African leader next week.
The global trade body announced Tuesday that it would hold a special meeting of its General Council on February 15 “to consider the appointment of the next WTO director-general”.
WTO General Council to consider appointment of next Director-General https://t.co/PFz8TKC7mz pic.twitter.com/Z4H05E1pk4
— WTO (@wto) February 9, 2021
Advertisement
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the announcement comes after United States President Joe Biden’s administration last week offered its “strong support” to Okonjo-Iweala, marking yet another sharp split from his predecessor Donald Trump, who had blocked her nomination for months.
TNG reports that key WTO ambassadors tapped Okonjo-Iweala back in October as the best pick to lead the organisation but Trump’s administration maintained its opposition to her appointment and said it backed her opponent, South Korea’s trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, instead.
Since the WTO makes decisions through consensus among all 164 member states, the US position left the process to replace Roberto Azevedo who stepped down a year ahead of schedule last August at a standstill.
Observers suggested that South Korea had long been under pressure from the United States an ally that has 28,500 troops in the country to defend it from nuclear-armed North Korea to keep Yoo in the race.
But Seoul suddenly announced last Friday that she was abandoning her bid, just hours before Washington announced its change of position.
With no further obstacles in her path, Okonjo-Iweala is expected to quickly be tapped for the director-general post at Monday’s meeting.
It remains unclear if she will be asked to take the reins immediately or if her term would start at a later date.
Once she does, she will have her hands full.
Twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first woman foreign minister, 66-year-old Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her country.
A development economist by training with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, she also spent a quarter of a century at the World Bank, rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012.