Okonjo-Iweala Addresses WTO Members In Geneva

Nigeria’s representative and candidate, Okonjo Iweala for the top job at the world trade organisation has explained to member countries why she is the best choice.

The two times finance minister in Nigeria has enjoyed wide support for the job from her home country as she is expected to defeat seven other contenders. The contenders will make 15-minute presentations to the 164 member states’ representatives at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, before facing a 75-minute grilling over their plans for the global trade body.

After a series of eliminations based on consensus, starting in September, the winner will take the WTO wheel in the midst of a global economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The new leader will also have to sort out simmering trade tensions between the United States and China and revive stalled trade talks.

The other contenders are Egyptian former diplomat Hamid Mamdouh; and Kenya’s former WTO General Council chair Amina Mohamed.

Britain’s first post-Brexit international trade secretary Liam Fox and former Moldovan foreign minister Tudor Ulianovschi are the two from Europe.

South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and former Saudi economy minister Mohammed al-Tuwaijri are running from Asia, while Mexico’s former WTO deputy director-general Jesus Seade Kuri was the first to declare his candidacy.

Here is the tweet’s and Presentation of Okonjo Iweala at WTO

Happening now: WTO DG Candidate @NOIweala, from #Nigeria🇳🇬, meets with WTO members.@TradeInvestNG @NigeriaMFA #WTODG

Follow her press conference live here on Twitter or on https://t.co/aO74f0959e at 17:00 (Geneva time) pic.twitter.com/xe81qSBbcb

— WTO (@wto) July 15, 2020