Okonjo-Iweala to get support from the U.S to become first female WTO head this Monday

The Trump administration had criticised Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and compared her trade experience with her South Korean competitor.

Okonjo argued that she has loads of trade experiences as well as extra leadership skills. “I think she’s a good choice” former WTO chief Pascal Lamy also said according to Reuters.

It’s over 90 days since the rejection of the former Nigerian finance minister by Trump’s administration. But she appears to have won over more people than the former president of the U.S.

The Biden administration is about to endorse her for the role of the WTO head.

According to Reuters, she is about to receive unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization.

The rejection was the last impediment to Okonjo’s appointment.

“She brings stature, she brings experience, a network and a temperament of trying to get things done, which is quite a welcome lot in my view,” former WTO chief Pascal Lamy told Reuters.

“Key to her success will be her ability to operate in the centre of a “U.S.-EU-China triangle,” he said.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala – First Female WTO Head

Okonjo-Iweala has experience in several international matters having headed major multilateral bodies.

The former minister studied development economics at Harvard. In 2011, Okonjo became the finance minister in Nigeria, where a lot of her recommendations stem from.

Many have sung her negotiating skills that helped seal a deal to cancel billions of dollars of Nigerian debt with the Paris Club of creditor nations in 2005.

Okonjo-Iweala is currently chairing the board of global vaccine alliance Gavi and serving as a special envoy for the World Health Organization on COVID-19.

She told Reuters that trade’s contribution to public health would be a priority when she is head. The 26-year-old WTO has become inefficient without leadership for six-month.

“I feel I can solve the problems. I’m a known reformer, not someone who talks about it,” she said. “I’ve actually done it”.