NIGERIAN WOMAN ECONOMIST FIRST AFRICAN TO HEAD WTO

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was confirmed as director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), becoming the first woman and the first African to lead the global trade body, NImi Princewill reported for CNN Business near midnight.

Okonjo-Iweala was appointed by the WTO after the last remaining rival candidate, South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, withdrew from the race. She will take up her post on March 1, initially for a term that runs until August 2025, Hanna Ziady and Charles Riley also reported for CNN.

An economist who worked for 25 years with the World Bank (WB) and former finance minister of Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala enjoyed broad support from WTO members including the European Union, China, Japan and Australia.

The United States, under the Trump administration, had favored Yoo but US President Joe Biden switched support for the Nigerian economist, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported hours earlier.

“The leadership change comes as the WTO is in its deepest crisis since it was founded in 1995. The WTO is no longer able to settle trade disputes between countries as the United States has blocked the appointment of appeals judges. The Trump administration sought reforms of the WTO, without clearly spelling out its demands. In addition, free trade talks have been stalled for years, and the WTO now also faces a global economic crisis,” dpa added.

"It feels exciting and it feels daunting at the same time. I look forward to the challenge ... deep reforms are needed to rebrand and reposition the organization," she said during an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Okonjo-Iweala said ramping up global efforts to combat COVID-19 was also a priority.

"One of ... top priorities that I have, that I'm passionate about, is how can trade and the WTO play a stronger role in bringing solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, both on the health side but also on the economic side," she told CNN.

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