Okonjo-Iweala Now Sole Candidate For WTO Director-General Role

News Update

THE former minister of Nigeria was appointed as the WTO director-general on February 15, 2021, becoming the first woman and also African to lead the trade organisation.

The WTO said the former Nigerian finance minister agreed to a second term for the organisation’s top job.

“Nominations for Director-General closed; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala confirmed as sole candidate,” the WTO said in a Saturday statement.

“Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway, Chair of the General Council, informed WTO members on 9 November that no further nominations for the position of Director-General had been received by the deadline of 8 November and that the incumbent Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is therefore the only candidate for the role.

“Director-General Okonjo-Iweala confirmed her willingness to serve a second four-year term in the role in a letter to the Chair on 16 September. On 8 October, the WTO formally commenced the process for appointing its next Director-General, with members given until 8 November to submit nominations.”

The WTO said the chair of the General Council will communicate the next steps in this process in the coming days.

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“The process was led by the General Council Chair in accordance with the WTO’s “Procedures for the Appointment of Directors-General,” the organisation said.

Okonjo-Iweala’s present term will end on 31 August 2025.

The former minister emerged as the WTO director-general on February 15, 2021, becoming the first woman and also African to lead the trade organisation.

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Upon her confirmation as the WTO DG in 2021, she listed her priorities to include getting long-blocked trade talks on fishery subsidies across the finish line and breathing life back into WTO’s Appellate Body.

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Twice Nigeria’s finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and its first female foreign minister in a two-month stint in 2006, Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her homeland.

She also brushed off claims that she lacked experience as a trade minister or negotiator

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