As the race for the World Trade Organization’s top job heats up, the Nigerian candidate, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed that settling the ongoing face-off between the United States and China will be a tough job.
She made this known in an exclusive interview with CNBC Africa monitored by The New Diplomat.
“Well, this is not going to be easy, if it was easy, it could have been done a long time since. So it would be very challenging but it is not an impossible job. It is very clear that both the US and China have been helped and benefitted from the multilateral trading system in the past. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. They have experienced shared prosperity in the economies and their countries’’ she disclosed.
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The Nigerian candidate pointed out that it is important to remind the US and China of this shared prosperity. She then disclosed that she would listen to both countries to find out what really are the issues causing distrust among them. She said that she will not want to be involved in the larger political problems, but will rather separate the trade issues and focus on them and build this trust.
Highlighting how the rift can be settled, Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that it has become imperative to find areas of confidence-building.
“You need to begin to find areas where there can be confidence-building and trade. Building trust is not talking about it, you have to have areas where both can work together and agree and we have a golden opportunity in the fisheries subsidies negotiations that are going on now because the US is a party to it, China is a party, the EU, all other members.
It is a multilateral negotiation, so if they can sit around the table with others to negotiate this and have a successful outcome, that is one thing that will be shared in common between the 2 countries. So that will begin to build confidence. Then reaching out both in the US and in China to talk to the policymakers, go where the decisions are made, talk to congress also in the US and begin to show the benefits of the system again’’ she added.
The Nigerian candidate pointed out that it is important to remind the US and China of this shared prosperity. She then disclosed that she would listen to both countries to find out what really are the issues causing distrust among them. She said that she will not want to be involved in the larger political problems, but will rather separate the trade issues and focus on them and build this trust.
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She also said they will look at reasons why they need to work together because their rift may be causing negative externalities for other members. She is of the opinion that exposing all of these, working with them, and listening carefully will begin to build confidence.
Recall that, former World Bank Chief, Okonjo-Iweala is battling seven other candidates for the position of the Director-General of the WTO, she has repeatedly reiterated that her forthright credentials, skill-sets, and hands-on expertise are what the WTO needs now for proper repositioning and to navigate its way through the pandemic crisis.
