By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
The chances of Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, heading the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are now getting brighter.
Aside the massive African support, the European Union (EU) on Monday October 26, 2020 backed up the Nigerian’s ambition.
By picking the EU support on Monday, Okonjo-Iweala would likely emerge the first woman worldwide and the first African to head the organization of 159 members.
The WTO, according to AFP report, would announce its new director general next month, while the EU would publicly announce its support for the 66-year-old economist (Okonjo-Iweala) on Tuesday.
Okonjo-Iweala, who is likely to succeed Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo at the WTO, was Nigeria’s first female finance minister and had a long career at the World Bank as a development economist.
Besides, there is no leading European candidate for the post, but some of the 27 EU member-states had before now backed South Korea’s trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, the other candidate still in the race.
A first meeting on Monday, as reported by AFP, failed to find consensus around the choice, but member-state representatives reconvened and agreed to back Okonjo-Iweala.
The WTO’s consultation process ends on Tuesday and the new leader would be named in November.
If Okonjo-Iweala is confirmed she will join the WTO at difficult time, with the world facing a deep post-coronavirus recession and a crisis of confidence in free trade and globalisation.
WTO was founded in January 1, 1995, but its trading system is half a century older. Since 1948, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had provided the rules for the system.