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Tag: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

  • WTO: Okonjo-Iweala reaches final stage

    WTO: Okonjo-Iweala reaches final stage

    Former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advanced to the final round in the race to lead the World Trade Organization.

    Members of the Geneva-based trade body also selected South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee.

    The final two were selected from a list of five candidates.

    The initial pool of eight candidates to replace Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down as WTO director-general in August – a year ahead of schedule, was narrowed down to five last month.

    The three eliminated during the second round of “confessionals” – in which all member states confidentially voice their preferences – were Liam Fox of Britain, Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia, and Amina Mohamed of Kenya.

    Jesus Saede Kuri of Mexico, Tudor Ulianovschi of Moldova and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh of Egypt were cut during the first round.

    The WTO will likely have the first female director-general in its 25-year history as no woman has ever headed the global trade body.

    The official announcement of the two candidates left standing is expected tomorrow (Thursday).

    But several sources familiar with the member states’ decision told AFP that “Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria had made it”, while one source said “Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea had also made the cut”.

  • WTO: Okonjo-Iweala reaches final stage

    Former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advanced to the final round in the race to lead the World Trade Organization.

    Members of the Geneva-based trade body also selected South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee.

    The final two were selected from a list of five candidates.

    The initial pool of eight candidates to replace Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down as WTO director-general in August – a year ahead of schedule, was narrowed down to five last month.

    The three eliminated during the second round of “confessionals” – in which all member states confidentially voice their preferences – were Liam Fox of Britain, Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia, and Amina Mohamed of Kenya.

    Jesus Saede Kuri of Mexico, Tudor Ulianovschi of Moldova and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh of Egypt were cut during the first round.

    The WTO will likely have the first female director-general in its 25-year history as no woman has ever headed the global trade body.

    The official announcement of the two candidates left standing is expected tomorrow (Thursday).

    But several sources familiar with the member states’ decision told AFP that “Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria had made it”, while one source said “Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea had also made the cut”.

  • Okonjo-Iweala urges WTO to elect DG on merit, says she’s well suited

    Okonjo-Iweala urges WTO to elect DG on merit, says she’s well suited

    Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday in Geneva stressed the need for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to elect a credible candidate based on merit for the position of Director-General.

    Okonjo-Iweala who is among the eight candidates vying for the position, stated this while answering questions from newsmen at a press conference held shortly after her presentation to the WTO General Council.

    “ Choosing a Director-General for WTO should be on merit. The best person should be chosen to lead an institution that’s having challenges “

    “ If it happens to be a woman, great . If it happens to be an African its also great. It should be based on merit “ She said while extolling the qualities which makes her well suited for the job.

    “ The WTO needs leadership and I’m someone with a strong managerial capability with the ability to forge consensus and reforms”

    “ These bundles of qualities in addition to my leadership quality is what I’m bringing to the WTO” She added.

    Okonjo-Iweala also spoke on various issues ranging from trade implication of Covid-19, challenges to Micro Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMSE) as well as E-Commerce.

    According to her, E-Commerce and digital Economy are vital forms of trade especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

    However, she said, there was need to address the challenge of digital divide in developing and least developed nations – where infrastructure remained a major impediment to such form of trade.

    Similarly, she emphasized the need to strengthen MSMSE – a vital part of global economy which was adversely affected by the pandemic.

    In the same vein, the former Finance Minister, also said that in tackling Covid-19, if elected as Director-General, she would ensure that vaccines are accessible to poorer countries.

    “ When vaccines becomes available, there will be allocation criteria that will ensure that it’s accessible to all” She stressed while noting that she will bring her experience as Chair of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance board to bear.

    Other issues addressed by Okonjo- Iweala include fostering relations among member countries to rebuild trust on restoring consensus decision making- in other to strengthen the WTO.

    Alongside Okonjo-Iweala , are candidates from Mexico, Egypt, Moldova, Republic of Korea , Kenya, UK and Saudi Arabia vying for the WTO Director General position ( NAN)

  • Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala for position of WTO DG

    Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala for position of WTO DG

    The President,Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the nomination of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation.

    It was reported on Thursday that Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, for the same position.

    The election is scheduled to hold in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021 for a four-year term that would run from 2021 to 2025 after former Director-General of the organisation, Roberto Azevedo, stepped down a year to the end of his second term.

    “The embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and permanent mission to the African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa present compliments to all embassies and permanent missions in Addis Ababa and has the honour to inform that the Federal Government of Nigeria has withdrawn the candidacy of Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah for election to the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation,” the letter read.

    “Nigeria is therefore pleased to request the support of esteemed AU member states as well as permanent missions and embassies in Addis Ababa in favour of the candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala.”

    Agah is Nigeria’s permanent representative to the WTO and the organisation’s deputy director-general.

    Okonjo-Iweala currently chairs the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

    She also sits on the board of Twitter and is a former managing director (operations) at the World Bank.