Former World Bank Chief, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has reiterated that her forthright credentials, skill-sets, and hands-on expertise are what the World Trade Organization (WTO) need now for proper repositioning and to navigate its way through the pandemic crisis.
“I am the best woman for the job,” Okonjo-Iweala said on an Arise TV programme Tuesday, saying that her background as a development economist with decades of experience in the trade will prove handy for WTO Director-General position.
Her comments come as the window for the nomination of candidates by member countries for the WTO DG closes Wednesday.
If there are no new entrants before midnight, it will be a six-candidate race as the two-time former Finance Minister will be slogging it out with South Korean Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee; Kenya’s former foreign minister Amina Mohamed; Mexico’s former WTO deputy director-general Jesus Seade Kuri; Egyptian former diplomat Hamid Mamdouh; and former Moldovan foreign minister Tudor Ulianovschi.
After the close of nomination, the next phase according to the WTO on its site is to invite candidates to meet with members at a special General Council meeting, where they expected to present their views and take questions from the membership of the Geneva-based organization.
Nigeria has been rallying other African countries behind her bid. Recently, The New Diplomat reported that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has endorsed her candidacy, after prevailing on Republic of Benin to withdraw the nomination of its candidate.
But beyond bagging the ECOWAS endorsement, Nigeria is looking at the possibility of Okonjo-Iweala’s emergence as an African consensus candidate ahead of the final selection process in Switzerland as candidates from Egypt and Kenya continue to push for support on the continent.
Rather than an election, the emergence of a new DG this time, is likely to be decided by consensus building. Already, some countries had withdrew candidates to form alliances with countries with leading nominations.
A vote is possible as a measure of last resort, but that scenario has never occurred.
In 1999, when countries could not decide between two runners, both candidates each served a three-year term.
Speaking on the support she had enjoyed since her nomination, Okonjo-Iweala said: “so far things are going well and I’m grateful for the support of the government and Nigerians.
“I don’t have any PR firm working for me. I have some friends who are helping with media work pro-bono because I cannot afford to pay them. It would be nice to have some volunteers.”
She described the claim by Egypt’s candidate for the WTO job that her nomination is not outside the rules of the African Union as absolutely not true, pointing out that the WTO has formally accepted her nomination because the position of the Egyptian candidate is faulty.
The former minister expressed gratitude to the Nigerian government, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as other agencies for their strong support.
Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO is a critical global organisation that needs to be reformed in key areas such as dispute resolution, adding that its effectiveness will be enhanced if it becomes more inclusive by supporting women, MSMEs among others.
On the US-China disagreements that have paralysed the organisation, Okonjo-Iweala stated that she has the experience to find areas of unanimity and mutual benefit, using them as a foundation to tackle more serious challenges.
