Okonjoyweala appointed as WTO’s first woman-African head

Input 2021.02.15 23:37 | Revision 2021.02.15 23:48

Okonjoyweala, 66, was elected as the new head of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

On the 15th (local time), the WTO held a special plenary meeting of the General Council on video in Geneva, Switzerland, and elected Okonjoyweala as the new secretary-general through agreement of 164 member states. She is the first woman in the WTO’s 26-year history, and the first African head.

Okonjoyweala is a finance and economy expert with over 30 years of experience as Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs of Nigeria and Executive Director of the World Bank. Although I have no experience in the trade field, which is the WTO’s job, as I have worked for international organizations for a long time, political power and bargaining power have been regarded as strengths.

He moved to the United States in the 1970s, studied economics at Harvard University, and received a doctorate in regional economic development from MIT. Afterwards, he served as finance minister twice in Nigeria and as a development economist at the World Bank.

In 2012, they competed fiercely with the former governor of Korea Kim Yong for the position of World Bank governor. At the time, he drank a high degree, and served as the managing director, the next highest position after the governor at the World Bank, and also managed and supervised portfolio operations worth $81 billion (approximately 89 trillion won).

The Reuters news agency said, “The nickname’Troublemaker’ attached to Okonjoyweala represents the warrior temperament of fighting for justice with the poor.” It is also famous for the anecdote that political opponents in Nigeria refused to withdraw and settled uncompromisingly despite the kidnapping of Okonjoyweala’s mother as a hostage.

Initially, the WTO tried to elect him, who won more votes in the member states preference survey last year, but the election process was stalemate against the US opposition led by the former administration of Donald Trump.

However, after five months of vacancy, the WTO found a new head when the new administration of Joe Biden, launched last month with a multilateral return, declared support for Okonjoyweala.

Okonjoyweala posted a post on Twitter saying, “I look forward to the completion of the election process,” after the head of the trade negotiations headquarters of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, who was in the final together, informed the WTO on the 5th that the candidate for secretary general resigns.

Okonjoyweala’s work begins on the 1st of the following month and runs until August 31st, 2025. During his four-year tenure, the tasks he must solve include the recovery of global trade, which has been reduced in the aftermath of the corona pandemic, the reorganization of the appellate body that serves as the Supreme Court in the WTO dispute resolution process, the conflict between the US and China as major member states, and to prevent overfishing of seafood. The ban on subsidies is mentioned.