Minutes after her historic confirmation as the first African and woman to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her acceptance speech was full of appreciation for the widespread support she enjoyed around the world since throwing her hat in the ring for the top job.
She also used the opportunity to map out plans for the WTO under her watch.
The highlight of Okonjo-Iweala’s acceptance speech at WTO General Council reads:
I would like to express my profound gratitude to the WTO membership, for electing me to lead this organization at this critical junction. Special thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari and all my Nigeria compatriot for their support and prayers. I also want to recognize and thank ECOWAS and AU Head of States, the ACP Secretary-General and the ACP membership for their early support of my candidacy. Thank you to other members who supported my candidacy from the start to finish of this election process.
Without the recent Swift action by the Biden’s administration to join the consensus of the membership of my candidacy, we would not be here today. I am grateful to the United States for the prompt action and strong expression of support. Finally my thanks to my family and friends, to numerous to name here, for their strength and encouragement throughout the process. It has been a long and tough road full of uncertainty but now it’s a Dawn of a new day and the real work can begin.
Today, WTO members are making history, for the first time in the 73 years of WTO, you are selecting a woman and an African as Director-General. This is ground breaking and positive. I am grateful for the trust you have in me, not just as a woman and an African but also in my knowledge, experience and like some of you have said, courage and passion to work with you to undertake the wide ranging reforms the WTO needs to reposition itself for the future.
At the WTO, the DG leads from behind, working with the talented Secretariat staff to help members achieve results. You can count on me to be proactive, to work hard, to be balanced, professional and objective so as to continuously earn and sustain your trust. That way, together we can restore and rebrand the WTO of a kicking of Global economic governance of force for strong, transparent and fair mutilateral trading system, and an instrument for inclusive economic growth and sustainable developments. The preamble to the agreement states that the objectives of the WTO are to raise leading standards, ensure full employment, increase incomes, expand the production and trade of goods and services, seek the optimum use of the World’s resources in accordance to the objectives of sustainable development, the preamble says it all. The WTO is about people, it’s about decent work. Let us place its over ranching purpose, front and center as a guide for all we seek to accomplish for the multilateral trading system.
The WTO was already facing acute challenges before COVID-19, these challenges have now been amplified by the pandemic, in addition to the regretful mountain lost of lives, the pandemic has wrecked havoc on the global economy, impacting supply chains and disrupting transport and travel. The crises has sub-ended trade and economic activities leading to job loses and reducing incomes around the world, it has erase years of economic gains made by several developing countries and even decades of growth in some low income and least developed countries. Many have been pushed deeper to debt, comprising their ability to meet the US sustainable development goals by 2020. But there is hope, the WTO expects world’s merchandise to rebounce this year. However, we cannot be complacent, for the global economy to return to sustain growth, the global community will need to get a tight grip on the pandemic by intensifying cooperation to make equitable and affordable access to vaccines. With new Covid variants making rapidly, we must have a sense of urgency of getting control of the pandemic. The WTO can and must be a more forceful role in exercising its monitoring function and encouraging members to minimize or remove export restrictions and prohibitions hinders support chains of medical goods and equipment.
International trade center recently reported that up to hundred countries still maintain export restrictions and prohibitions. WTO members have a further responsibilities to reject vaccines nationalism and protectionism, they should rather intensify cooperation on promising new vaccines. They should be what I call, a third way to broaden access through facilitating technology but without the framework of multilateral roles so as to encourage research, while at the same time allowing licensing agreements that can help manufacturing of medical products.
Facilitating such arraignment will enable the WHO to support the WTO act accelerator, to get affordable vaccines quickly to poor countries.
Looking beyond this pandemic, the WTO must be proactive in strengthening cooperation with other multilateral and Bilateral partners, the private sector and civil society, to set a framework for dealing with problem, such as this pandemic. The private sectors, civil society and parliamentarians are important partners of the WTO with whom collaboration should be further nuthured going forward.
WTO members agreed that the organization needs reforms but the lack of trust among members means that there is less agreement on the nature of the reform. To restore its credibility, the WTO must deliver early success and results. I have already expanded about the key area which result are possible, that is assistance in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic through the Nexus of trade and public health.
