Former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Monday said she is “honoured” to have been named as the director-general of World Trade Organisation.
Okonjo-Iweala was appointed on Monday, months after key ambassadors of the trade organisation recommended her for the job. Her confirmation was initially stalled by the then Donald Trump administration in the United States’ support for South Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee.
But the administration of the new American president Joe Biden threw its weight behind Okonjo-Iweala after the South Korean minister pulled out of the race.
“A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Okonjo-Iweala said after her official confirmation. (Guardian)