FIFTY-EIGHT out of the 164 member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have expressed their support for a proposal from the African Group endorsing the incumbent Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for a second term.
This support was announced during the WTO General Council meeting on July 22, as per a statement released by the organization.
“The African Group requests that the current Director-General make herself available for a second term and has suggested that the reappointment process should commence as soon as possible,” the statement noted.
“Fifty-eight members, with several representing groups, took the opportunity to voice their support for the African Group’s proposal. They urged DG Okonjo-Iweala to communicate her intentions regarding a second term as soon as possible. Many of these members commended her hard work and achievements during her first term.”
Okonjo-Iweala,70, expressed her gratitude for the backing she has received from member states. “All that I have accomplished, we have accomplished together,” she said.
The director general said that she took the call of members very seriously and was favourably inclined. She said she would get back to members very soon regarding her intentions.
Okonjo-Iweala, the seventh Director-General of the WTO, took office on March 1, 2021, for a four-year term that will end on August 31, 2025, and she is eligible for reappointment.
The former Nigerian Finance Minister overcame substantial opposition to become the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO.
Prior to her current role, she served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister from 2003 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2015, and she briefly held the position of Foreign Minister in 2006, becoming the first woman to do so in Nigeria.
She has a distinguished background as a skilled negotiator, having spent 25 years at the World Bank as a development economist, where she advanced to the role of Managing Director, Operations.
