Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is now the sole candidate for the World Trade Organization’s director-general role, as she agrees to a second term, according to the WTO.
“Nominations for Director-General closed; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala confirmed as sole candidate,” the WTO said in a Saturday statement.
“Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway, Chair of the General Council, informed WTO members on 9 November that no further nominations for the position of Director-General had been received by the deadline of 8 November and that the incumbent Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is therefore the only candidate for the role.
“Director-General Okonjo-Iweala confirmed her willingness to serve a second four-year term in the role in a letter to the Chair on 16 September. On 8 October, the WTO formally commenced the process for appointing its next Director-General, with members given until 8 November to submit nominations.”
The WTO said the chair of the General Council will communicate the next steps in this process in the coming days.
“The process was led by the General Council Chair in accordance with the WTO’s “Procedures for the Appointment of Directors-General,” the organisation said.
Okonjo-Iweala’s present term will end on 31 August 2025.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became WTO director-general on February 15, 2021, marking a historic first as both a woman and an African to lead the organization. Upon her appointment, she prioritized concluding stalled trade talks on fishery subsidies and revitalizing the WTO’s Appellate Body.
A trailblazer in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala served twice as finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly as the country’s first female foreign minister in 2006. She also dismissed claims questioning her experience as a trade minister or negotiator.
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