Efforts by Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of becoming the first African and the first woman to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) has hit a spanner after the global trade agency said the process of choosing the next head of the organization has been postponed sine die. The Geneva-based trade watchdog has been run by four deputies since Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo stepped down a year early in his term last August.
Huhuonline.com obtained an internal WTO memo yesterday which cited the coronavirus pandemic as cause for the postponement. “For reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November,” the document stated, adding that the decision has been postponed until further notice. The WTO later confirmed the decision on its website, saying consultations would continue. The WTO usually chooses its new head by consensus, and go the extra mile to avoid resorting to a vote.
However, WTO sources contacted by Huhuonline.com blamed the postponement on the outgoing Trump administration which continues to oppose Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy on procedural grounds despite the massive global support her candidacy has garnered, including from the European Union. The US position has been roundly criticized as unjustifiable by a majority of WTO members.
A high-powered WTO panel last month recommended Okonjo-Iweala to lead the global trade watchdog. However, the South Korean candidate Yoo Myung-hee, has not withdrawn from the race, despite mounting diplomatic pressure. Earlier yesterday, Okonjo-Iweala got a big boost with the formal submission of her name for the position by the Chair of the WTO General Council, Dr. David Walker and Facilitators for the appointment of the next Director General. The Facilitators are Ambassador Dacio Castillo, Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body and Ambassador Harald Aspelund, Chair of the Trade Policy Review Body.
Huhuonline.com understands that the decision to formally submit Okonjo-Iweala’s name was taken at a meeting of WTO Heads of Delegation held on October 28, a decision many analysts said may have finally sealed the fate of the US-backed South Korean candidate Yoo Myung-hee. The submission of Okonjo-Iweala’s name is seen as a confirmation of the earlier decision of the informal session of the Council to adopt her “as the candidate most likely to attract consensus and recommending her appointment by the General Council as the next Director-General of the WTO,” one WTO source told Huhuonline.com.
It was therefore with a sense of anger and trepidation that some WTO member countries welcomed the decision to postponed the final selection until further notice, saying the raging Covid-19 pandemic offered as the reason for the postponement was untenable, given that member delegations could participate in the process virtually.
There was no immediate comment from the US Trade Representative’s office but outgoing US President Donald Trump has frequently berated the WTO, calling it “horrible” and biased towards China. His administration has already blocked judge appointments, disabling its top appeals panel last year. However, Okonjo-Iweala, who currently is board chair of GAVI, the global vaccine alliance, has vowed “positivity all the way” on her Twitter feed. “Dr. Ngozi is very grateful for the WTO’s support and she’s ready to get to work as soon as possible,” her spokeswoman Molly Toomey said.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson yesterday confirmed the appointment of Helen Grant MP, a British-Nigerian, as the new trade envoy to Nigeria. Grant’s role will be to provide support to the UK Government’s trade and investment priorities in Nigeria through high-level engagement with Nigerian Ministers by leading trade delegations, engaging key businesses in the market and promoting bilateral trade. Her duties will also include promoting trade for UK businesses in selected high-growth and developing markets around the world, and support the activities of the UK’s Department of international trade.
Born in London to a British mother and a Nigerian father, Grant is married with two sons. She is a graduate of law from the University of Hull, and set up her own legal practice, specializing in family breakdown and domestic violence before becoming the first female Anglo-African Conservative Member of Parliament, when she was elected MP for Maidstone and The Weald in 2010, winning three consecutive elections since then.
Grant’s impressive political career includes serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and for Women and Equalities, under former Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition Government, and later, Minister of State for Sport and Tourism. She also served as Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Communities, focusing on issues concerning diversity, inclusion, equality, social cohesion, racism and discrimination under former Prime Minister Theresa May’s government.
Speaking on her appointment as the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Grant said, “I am absolutely delighted with my appointment. Both countries are close to my heart, my father being Nigerian and my mother English. Now, I have an opportunity to employ my rich dual heritage to help magnify an already strong UK–Nigerian relationship for our mutual prosperity.”
She added: “As the largest and fastest growing economy on the African continent, the potential for trade and investment with Nigeria is stunning. I will do my utmost to help develop that as part of our nation’s collective drive towards an outward looking global Britain. Helen Grant is the second Trade envoy since the program launched in 2012, succeeding John Howell MP.
