Nigeria’s candidate for World Trade Organization’s director-general, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has emerged one of the final two candidates for the post, along with another woman.
Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, were chosen by WTO members as the final two candidates to move to the final round of the selection, according to report by Bloomberg Wednesday.
By advancing two women to the final round of the selection process, the WTO is set to have the first female director-general in its 25-year history.
Okonjo-Iweala served two stints as Nigeria’s finance minister and one term as foreign affairs minister.
She has experience working at international governance bodies as a former managing director of the World Bank, and as a chairman at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
During her 25-year career in government, she helped to expand her country’s trade network through bilateral accords with the United States, China and the United Kingdom.
WTO General Council Chairman, David Walker planned to formally announce the results to the institution’s delegates on Thursday morning in Geneva.
“They’re both very well qualified, it is going to be a fight,” said William Reinsch, a trade official in the Clinton administration and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He added that the top challenge would be “restoring the organisation to full strength and viability, and restoring its reputation.
“You need members to have confidence that the WTO is capable of solving problems.
Reinsch added that the members’ confidence in the organisaiton has been eroded.
