Former Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will today by 3pm be screened for the job of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
She will be screened alongside seven other candidates by the 164 member states of the WTO in an exercise expected to hold between July 15 and 17. Nominations for the job ended on July 8.
Other candidates jostling for the position to be vacated by DG, Roberto Azevêdo on August 31, are: Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Amina Mohamed (Kenya), Jesús Kuri (Mexico), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Yoo Myung-hee (Korea), Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri (Saudi Arabia), and Liam Fox (UK).
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The candidates are expected to share their visions for the international trade negotiation and dispute settlement body established on January 1, 1995.
In a well-circulated campaign video, Okonjo-Iweala said that if elected, she would rally WTO members at this critical moment, make the organisation listen to them, seek common ground, hunt for solutions, rebuild trust and return to its founding mission.
If successful in her bid, Okonjo-Iweala would be the first female and African to head the WTO. Since inception, three of the organisation’s directors-general have been from Europe, while one each came from Oceania, Asia and South America.
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