Nigeria’s former finance minister and nominee for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has emerged winner of the highly competitive race.
She was chosen as the final candidate for the much-coveted role. She polled 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat how South Korea’s trade minister at the final stage of the race.
She has broken many records, including becoming the first African to occupy win that office at the WTO. Before today’s victory, Okonjo-Iweala was receiving local and global backing for the top job.
Having advanced to the final stage of the selection process, the Nigerian-born economist and international development expert will slug it out with her only rival, Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea.
The WTO is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations, settles trade disputes between its members and supports the needs of developing countries.
Okonjo-Iweala sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity and has continued to get widespread endorsements across the world.
Before her endorsement by President Mohammadu Buhari yesterday, his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa had in a series of tweets said: “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a highly distinguished African, who has excelled in various public offices, in her native Nigeria, including responsibilities in the AU, and in numerous international assignments. At a time when international organisations need to be repurposed, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is the right person to reposition the WTO in order to be an effective instrument for facilitating a fair, just, equitable and rules-based trading system.
READ ALSO:Okonjo-Iweala Campaign Strategy Team Inaugurated
He encouraged all member states of the @_AfricanUnion to rally behind Dr. Okonjo-Iweala during the final round of nominations, which will see for the first time in the history of the WTO, the appointment of a female DG and one coming from the African continent.
Also, the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) gave nod to her candidacy. The endorsement by the 15-member-state regional group is a boost to Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala candidature.
The president of ECOWAS, Mahamadou Issoufou, who announced the endorsement in a statement, said the decision was taken based on the authority of the Heads of State and Governments of its member-countries.
He urged other African countries as well as non-African countries to join in endorsing the candidature of the former World Bank’s Managing Director, considering the need to field a strong and formidable African representative in the elections.
Representatives of countries in the European Union have agreed to support Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee, an indication that their votes will be split between both candidates.
Despite the widespread endorsements for Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, there have been pockets of opposition against her candidacy. The Office of the Legal Counsel of the African Union said that the candidature of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the WTO job is not in line with extant rules. This followed her nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari after Nigeria withdrew the candidacy of Yunov Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO.
Although no reasons were given for withdrawing Agah’s candidacy, but analysts mentioned Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s record of accomplishments in international development and finance.
Agah’s candidacy, already endorsed by AU Executive Council, was withdrawn in a request letter dated June 4.
The two other African candidates shortlisted by the AU alongside Mr Agah were Egypt’s Hamid Mamdouh, a trade lawyer, member of the WTO Secretariat, and trade negotiator for Egypt; and Beninoise Eloi Laourou, the ambassador and permanent representative of Benin to the United Nations and other organisations in Geneva.
At WTO’s heart are the agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The WTO goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
