Skip to main content

WTO - U.S President Joe Biden Endorses Okonjo Iweala

 

The U.S President and his administration on Friday gave their vote of confidence to Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to lead the World Trade Organisation - WTO, clearing a path for her to become the organization’s first female and first African leader.

The U.S President and his administration on Friday gave their vote of confidence to Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to lead the World Trade Organisation - WTO, clearing a path for her to become the organization’s first female and first African leader.

The move marks another sharp split with former president Donald Trump who paralyzed the organisation and opposed the candidacy of the former Nigerian finance minister who was backed by many other countries.

The US Trade Representative in a statement cited her “wealth

of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy” and said she had “proven experience managing a large international organization”.

Also, USTR noted that South Korea’s trade minister, whom the Trump administration supported had abandoned her bid to head the WTO earlier Friday.

Yoo Myung-hee consulted with the United States her primary backer and other major countries and “decided to renounce her candidacy,” South Korea’s trade ministry said in a statement.

The process to name a successor for Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down last August, has been deadlocked for months.

Meanwhile, Key WTO ambassadors tapped Okonjo-Iweala back in October as the best pick to lead the organisation, but without US support the process was left at a standstill since the director-general is normally chosen by consensus among all 164 member states.

“The United States stands ready to engage in the next phase of the WTO process for reaching a consensus decision on the WTO Director-General,” USTR said.

“The Biden Administration looks forward to working with a new WTO Director-General to find paths forward to achieve necessary substantive and procedural reform of the WTO.”

Keith Rockwell a WTO spokesman, told AFP the next regular meeting of the organisation’s General Council, where the leadership issue could be discussed, was not until March 1.

But, he stressed, “another could be called on short notice,” since the last meeting in October had been suspended amid the deadlock.

A European diplomat hailed Yoo’s decision to drop out of the race. “We salute the spirit of responsibility in this decision. This is good news for multilateralism,” he told AFP.

“Now nothing stands in the way of members rapidly approving the Nigerian candidate, Doctor Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who won the selection process.”

If she does get the nod, Okonjo-Iweala would become the first woman and also the first African to lead the WTO.

The crisis-wracked organisation is widely seen as being in need of reform.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, it had grappled with stalled trade talks and struggled to curb tensions between the United States and China.

The global trade body also faced relentless attacks from Washington under Trump, which crippled its dispute settlement appeal system. And the previous US leader had threatened to leave the organisation altogether.

She spent a quarter of a century at the World Bank, rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012, and is seen as a trailblazer in her home country.

Twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first woman foreign minister, Okonjo-Iweala, 66, trained as a development economist. She also has degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT and Harvard.

Comments

You may also want to read these ⤵️

Referee kills player in a football match

A referee is facing murder charges after football players allegedly forced him to

Do not watch this while driving

Kids are lovely and fun to watch most times. I know most of you did this and so many other funny stuffs as a kid. Feel free to share yours... Do not watch this while driving

The Pros and Cons Of COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps

                Written by                Jack -  Guest author Contact tracing apps seem to be the new fad. Their popularity is also one that comes on the back of a series of unfortunate events. They seem to hold another approach to fighting the menace of a disease that has claimed no less than 400,000 lives worldwide. The widespread race to get these apps working can also be attributed to the coming together of two big names in tech, Apple and Google, to make the frameworks for such apps happen. Like every other thing, though, how does the scales tip in favor of, or against, these apps? The Case for Contact Tracing Apps In April alone, the US people lost more jobs than the economy had been able to gain in about a combined decade. More unemployment claims are filed daily, while companies do not take their staff out of furlough anytime soon. Businesses are folding up daily, too, especially those still p...

Over 40 Million Accounts Found Guilty

Microsoft has uncovered 44 million user accounts using usernames and passwords that have been leaked through security breaches.

RAW TALENT ep1 (freestyle by Gdlpeid)

Just watch! Freestyle by ''Gdlpeeid''. A rapper with a difference.  Pure raw talent.

These 10 Powerful Words And Phrases Defined The Decade

Honestly, it has been a wonderful decade to remember.  A lot has happened and a lot has been spoken also. But our focus is on the words and phrases spoken.  Below are words and phrases spoken between 2010 - 2019 that defined the decade.....

By February 2020 - WhatsApp Will Stop Working on These Phones

Every now and then, WhatsApp does fish out a list of old phones for which support is discontinued and if you have an old phone lying around as a backup, you might want to read on.

Apple Has Released iOS 13.2.2 And Fixes Major Issue

All thanks to Apple,  the tech  giant just released iOS 13.2.2, which addresses the issue of background apps being killed prematurely, along with a handful of other annoyances.

This Magnetic thread Can Be Used To Clear Blood Clot in The Brain

Link from mashable.com  Researchers at MIT developed a thread that can be steered magnetically to glide through the brain's blood vessels and

This gigantic monster device turns wave energy into electricity

This 826-ton buoy was developed by OceanEnergy to turn wave energy into electricity. IEEE Spectrum reported that "OE Buoy" was towed from Oregon to Hawaii, where it will undergo a series of tests that will prove whether it can withstand the battering waves while generating electricity. Click the link below to watch the video..