Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s nominee for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, has emerged winner of the highly competitive race.
According to a Vanguard newspaper report, the former minister polled 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat her South Korea trade minister opponent, at the final stage of the race.
She has broken many records, including becoming the first African to occupy that office at the WTO.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has served in different national and international capacities. Only on March 7, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa appointed Okonjo-Iweala a member of the country’s Economic Advisory Council, which comprised indigenous and international economic experts charged with the responsibility of advising the president and government on the development and implementation of economic policies toward advancing inclusive growth.
A month later on April 10, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, named Okonjo-Iweala a member of the fund’s External Advisory Group which comprised prominent individuals from around the world, who will serve as Georgieva’s special advisers.
Okonjo-Iweala is also one of the four Special Envoys the African Union (AU) appointed on April 12 to mobilise international support for its efforts toward addressing the coronavirus pandemic. The AU special envoys are charged with soliciting the support of the G20, the European Union and other international financial institutions for the organisation’s response.
Okonjo-Iweala was also recently appointed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a Special Envoy for WHO’s Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.