World Trade Organisation (WTO) Welcomes Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala On Her First Day In Office As WTO Director-General

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Monday resumed duty as the director general of the World Trade Organisation, weeks after her appointment was endorsed by the United States and approved by the trade organization.⁣


Her appointment was ratified on February 15.⁣

“WTO members have just agreed to appoint Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general,” the global trade body said in a statement.⁣


Okonjo-Iweala is the first woman and the first African to lead WTO.⁣


But her appointment was almost scuppered by the former American president Donald Trump, whose administration preferred South Korea’s trade minister Yoo Myung-hee for the job.⁣

Trump administration’s insistence on Minister Yoo delayed was in spite of Okonjo-Iweala’s endorsement by the key ambassadors of the WTO last October.⁣

But her path to the WTO top job was cleared after Trump was defeated at the polls and the South Korean minister dropping her dream.⁣


President Joe Biden subsequently endorsed the Nigerian for the position, with the US Trade Representative praising her “wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy”.⁣

She is hitting the ground running, with her first day on the job in Geneva coinciding with the annual meeting of WTO’s General Council.⁣


Source: Wedding Digest

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