Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala today Monday being the 15th day of February 2021, has been appointed head of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as director-general of the World Trade Organization by representatives of the 164 member countries, according to a statement from the body.
The appointment came after new U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy, which had been blocked by former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s move was
a step toward his aim of supporting more cooperative approaches to international problems after Trump’s “America first” approach that launched multiple trade disputes.“WTO members have just agreed to appoint Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general,” the global trade body, adding that the former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank veteran will take up her post on March 1.
Twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first woman foreign minister, she has been described as a trailblazer.
Aside from her time in public office, the development economist also spent a quarter-century at the World Bank — rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012.
“I think she has delivered, whether in Nigeria or in other countries where she worked,” Idayat Hassan of the Centre for Democracy and Development research and advocacy group told AFP.
Born in 1954 in Ogwashi Ukwu, in Delta State, western Nigeria, her father is a traditional ruler. She spent much of her life in the United States, graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, where she sent her four children.
“She is not just liked in Nigeria, she is loved, because she is a symbol, and people are gunning for her because of what she represents for womanhood,” said Hassan.
She is the first female and first African to head the World Trade Organization (WTO). She was appointed to head the leading international trade body as it seeks to resolve disagreements over how it decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.
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