BREAKING! Okonjo-Iweala Breaks The Glass Ceiling, Emerges First Female DG of WTO

• *China Quietly Tips The Scales In Nigeria’s Favour As EU, US Hit Deadlock…
• *WTO’s Council Set To Make Official Announcement 
• * South Korea’s Candidate, Yoo Myung-hee To Formally Accept Decision Today

Nigeria’s former finance minister and a former managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has secured the majority support needed to emerge as the first female Director-General of the World Trade Organization(WTO), shattering the glass ceiling.

Okonjo-Iweala broke the glass ceiling, emerging as the first African and the first female to ever receive the high-level cross-continental support for the position of DG of WTO by springing up as the finalist after eliminating South Korea’s current  trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee in a fierce  battle for the coveted job on Monday night.

The decision among some of the key, and influential nations within the global power bloc to move in Nigeria’s direction followed very tough, rigorous and high-level negotiations with China reportedly tilting the dynamics.

Read also:

WTO DG: General Council Meeting On Okonjo-Iweala Postponed!

WTO DG: Anxiety Over US, China, Japan, EU, Russia, Others Meeting Monday As Geneva Imposes Lockdown

WTO DG: Nigeria Breaks Silence On US Opposition To Okonjo-Iweala’s Emergence

WTO DG: Anxiety As US Threatens To Veto Okonjo-Iweala’s Choice

The New Diplomat Europe’s outpost office gathered that with the EU nations and the United States moving in opposite direction, a move that triggered a deadlock between the two powerful geo-political allies for the first time in many years, it was the decisive and quiet support of China that finally tipped the scales in Okonjo-Iweala’s favour.

Read also:

What Okonjo-Iweala ‘Il Do When Confirmed WTO DG

WTO D-G: How US Nov. 3 Poll Could Make Or Mar Okonjo-Iweala’s Bright Chances

EXCLUSIVE! How Okonjo-Iweala Defeated S’ Korea’s Yoo To Emerge DG of WTO

WTO D-G: [Video] AU Diplomats Host Okonjo-Iweala As Curtains Draw On Race Tomorrow

Exclusive! WTO DG: Anxiety As S’Korea’s Foreign Minister Visits Addis Ababa, Lobbies AU, Ethiopia

The WTO’s Ambassador Walker’s led General Council, the overall organ responsible for picking the organization’s  next DG, would officially announce the choice of Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala today, October 27, barring any unforeseen changes in the organization’s schedule.

Diplomatic sources confided in The New Diplomat that an official announcement  to this effect would be formally made today by New Zealand’s Ambassador Walker’s led WTO General Council.

The race for the coveted job of DG of WTO has been fierce with Nigeria’s  Okonjo-Iweala and  South Korea’s serving Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, running neck-and-neck in the intense jostle and game of global diplomatic intrigues.

Indications had emerged that influential global trading countries including the United States(US), the European Union(EU) nations, China, Japan and the BRICS countries were strongly divided on who should be the candidate to lead the WTO.

High-level sources confided in The New Diplomat’s Europe’s outpost operations that it “took serious negotiations and prolonged talks to get China to go along with Nigeria with its decision to support Okonjo-Iweala.” China controls about 12.4% of the global trade.

Read also:

WTO: Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohamed, Myung-hee In Last Minutes Jostle As EU, US, Japan, China Weigh In!

World Powers Set To Take The Stage, Virtually, At 75th UN Debate

China’s Retaliation: Tight Security Outside U.S. Chengdu Consulate

WTO: Uncertainties As Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohamed, Myung-hee Know Fate In 48 Hours!

The influence of the United States on global trade is reportedly huge as well  given that it single-handedly controls about 12% of global trade just as China holds about 12.4% of the global trade statistics.

Diplomatic sources hinted that East Asia countries with the exception of China went along with Myung-hee in preference. These include Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macay, Mongolia and South Korea.  Japan, a US ally is another strong international player in global trade with an estimated $705.7 billion worth of goods globally in 2020.

However, on Okonjo-Iweala’s side apart from  the EU and 55 AU nations were 24 solid ACP countries that reportedly expressed preference for her candidacy. The CP countries in this regard include Bahamas, Cuba, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica Republic, Dominica, Greneda, Fiji, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Timor-Lester, Parpua New Guinea, etc.

A combination of this preponderance form about 79 block countries that solidly stood behind Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala. However, it was the quiet and deft diplomacy of China that sealed the deal in Okonjo-Iweala’s favour. 

A top diplomat in Geneva told The New Diplomat in confidence: “China quietly changed the game. They said nothing openly but silently they, deftly China voted in Nigeria’s favour.”

Okonjo-Iweala, 66, served as Nigeria’s first female finance and later foreign minister, and has a 25-year career behind her as a development economist and international finance expert at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two. She is also on Twitter’s board of directors and is a special envoy for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 fight. 

Thus, Okonjo-Iweala has successfully edged out South Korea’s Myung-hee. Yoo Myung-hee 53, is the serving South Korea’s trade minister, following a long career in trade, diplomacy, law and foreign affairs. She had previously served as South Korea’s foreign Affairs minister, among others. A lawyer and diplomat, Myung-hee holds degrees in Law, Public Policy and was called to the New York Bar.

Read also:

Fuel Price Hike: Commuters, Drivers Groan As Filling Stations Adjust Pump Price

Imo Assembly’s Speaker: Uzodinma Consolidates with Emeziem after Collins Impeachment

#EndSARS: Why We’re Not Happy With Sanwo-olu, Nigerian Army Tells Lagos Judicial Panel

Biden Beats Trump In Georgia, Attains famed 306 Electoral College Votes

One major implication of this is that China has somewhat stamped its feet on the global diplomatic and economic dynamics as an indispensable power, having deftly supported Okonjo-Iweala  to victory as the US and EU purportedly cancelled themselves in a diplomatic deadlock.

Already, China is the biggest economy in the world in terms of P3, Purchasing Power Parity. Thus, the consequence of this on the global scale, according to diplomats, is quite telling