Nigeria’s former finance minister and nominee for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said she was excited at the success and continued progress of her bid for the highly competitive race.
In a post on her Facebook page, she said she was humbled to be declared the candidate with the largest, broadest support among members and most likely to attract consensus.
“We move on to the next step on November 9, despite hiccups. We are keeping up with the positivity going,” she wrote.
Okonjo-Iweala was Wednesday 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. She would be the first woman and first African to lead the WTO.
But the US, critical of the WTO’s handling of global trade, wants another woman, South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee, saying she could reform the body. Okonjo-Iweala said she was “immensely humbled” to be nominated.
READ ALSO: WTO: Okonjo-Iweala prioritizes fixing dispute settlement system
But the four-month selection process to find the next WTO director-general hit a road block when Washington said it would continue to back South Korea’s trade minister.
In a statement critical of the WTO, the Office of the US Trade Representative, which advises President Donald Trump on trade policy, said the organisation “must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field”.
Ms Yoo had “distinguished herself” as a trade expert and “has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organisation”, the statement said.
It added: “This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade. There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations. The WTO is badly in need of major reform.”
Okonjo-Iweala had before the election received local and global support for the top job also being contested by 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.
Both President Mohammadu Buhari and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa had endorsed her for the top job.
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.
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.
