News — WTO

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian economist who, on March 3rd, 2021, was sworn in as the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She was also the longest serving finance minister in the government of Nigeria and has headed initiatives prioritizing the economies of low-income countries at the World Bank.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was born on June 13, 1954 in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria. She studied at Nigeria’s oldest girls’ secondary school and traveled to the U.S. to study at Harvard University as a teenager (1973). She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a bachelor’s in economics (1976) and later earned her PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1981. Since then, she has been awarded 15 honorary degrees from other institutions around the world. After receiving her doctoral degree, Okonjo-Iweala served for 25 years in the World Bank where she rose to the no. 2 position as managing director of operations. In that post she supervised development projects and portfolios in Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia.

Okonjo-Iweala made history in Nigeria after being appointed the first woman and longest serving Finance Minister of Nigeria. She was first appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo (2003-2006) and again by President Goodluck Jonathan (2011-2015). She also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between her two terms. During this time in government, Okonjo-Iweala sought to bring about reforms that increased fiscal transparency in government and reduced corruption by publishing government distributions to different departments and local offices on the finance ministry website and in newspapers. In 2005, she led negotiations with the Paris Club, an assembly of the world’s most developed nations, which led to the restructuring of 30 billion dollars of external debt owned by Nigeria as well as the outright cancellation of 18 billion dollars of debt. When Okonjo-Iweala was serving her second term under President Jonathan, she received death threats and suffered the kidnapping of her mother (who was later released by kidnappers). Despite this adversity, due to her reform programs and work as finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala is credited with helping grow the Nigerian economy, which has recently overtaken South Africa as the largest economy in Africa.

Okonjo-Iweala has written or co-written six books and has authored numerous works on development and finance. She has been featured on Forbes magazine’s 100 most powerful women in the world for four straight years and was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Most recently, Okonjo-Iweala has been elected as the World Trade Organization’s Director General where she will be a spokesperson for the WTO and be instrumental in facilitating trade negotiations and settling disputes between member nations.

The United States says it is not backing former Nigeria finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

America’s opposition to her candidature comes after the three WTO ambassadors charged with the task of finding the next WTO chief settled on the Nigerian, Reuters has reported.

The choice of the Nigerian to be the next chief of the WTO was relayed to the members of the organization by the head of the “troika” ambassadors at a meeting on Wednesday, the report added.

However, the US representative at the meeting reportedly insisted that South Korea’s candidate, Yoo Myung-hee remained a contender and that Washington will not recognize Okonjo-Iweala as the consensus candidate for appointment as director-general, according to Theafricareport. 

As a result of America’s opposition to Okonjo-Iweala’s candidature, the General Counsel has postponed its announcement of the new Director-General until a further meeting, which is scheduled for 9 November; after the US presidential elections, the report added.

If Okonjo-Iweala is approved by consensus, she will replace Roberto Azevêdo as the next WTO Director-General. Azevêdo stepped down as WTO Director-General on 31 August 2020, a year before the expiry of his mandate.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that the European Union (EU) will back Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General of the WTO. An EU official said the decision to back the Nigerian was “a strong signal to reinforce the multilateral order and clear signal towards Africa and a sign of mutual trust.”

Okonjo-Iweala’s vast experience makes her suitable for the job. Besides serving as Nigeria’s finance minister, she also served as a Managing Director of the World Bank where she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.

Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during both the food and later financial crisis. She has chaired the replenishment of over $40 billion for the International Development Association (IDA), the grant, and the soft credit arm of the World Bank.

Her achievements as Finance Minister garnered international recognition for improving Nigeria’s financial stability and fostering greater fiscal transparency to combat corruption. In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that negotiated the cancellation of 60% of Nigeria’s external debt ($18 billion) with the Paris Club. 

She was educated at Harvard and has a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Okonjo-Iweala is the recipient of numerous awards, including Honorary Doctorates from Trinity College, Dublin, Brown University, and Amherst College, among others. She is the recipient of Time magazine’s European Hero of the Year Award, 2004, for her work on economic reform in Nigeria among many other recognitions.

While African members will be buoyed by the progression of Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank managing director and Nigerian finance minister, and Mohamed, a former chairwoman of the WTO’s general council, Egyptian Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh failed to gain enough support to reach the next round. Mamdouh served as a former director of the trade in services and investment division of the WTO.

The two African candidates, who will now compete to unify the continent’s vote, will face off against Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea, Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia, and Liam Fox of the United Kingdom.

The second phase will run until 6 October. Member states will express two preferences to bring the number of candidates from five to two. There is intended to be three stages of consultations, with the winner taking office in November.

The new director-general, who will replace incumbent Roberto Azevêdo, will take charge in an era of high global trade tensions, including an ongoing trade war between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies. It is hoped that an African candidate can help to mediate that dispute and put African trade concerns at the heart of the international agenda.

“Africa has some painful choices to make both in terms of its own unity and, in the long run, for its future in international trade. Should an African DG be selected, they would be symbolic of African unity and, subsequently, well-positioned to cajole Africa on internal issues,” wrote JP Singh, professor of international commerce and policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in August for African Business magazine.

“Africa also has to undertake another internal reckoning toward a reform agenda in the long-run…To grow, Africa needs to graduate toward non-preferential trade access, and compete on the strength of its exports. African exports have remained depressed and stuck in preferential access.”

In an interview with African Business magazine last week, Kenya’s Mohamed said she would be well-placed to resolve multilateral trade tensions. She is credited with helping to abolish export subsidies for agricultural exports in a critical WTO deal. 

In an interview with the Guardian last week, Ojonko-Iweala argued her own suitability for the post.