By Charles Ike-Okoh
WED, 28 OCT, 2020-theGBJournal-Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, long time front runner and former two-time Nigeria Finance Minster today received a key endorsement from the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) selection committee members, to move her closer to becoming the first Nigerian and first female director-general of the WTO.
Sources close to the Committee said Okonjo-Iweala was told by the three senior selection panel members that she received a wide margin of support and is now better placed to receive a consensus approval from the organisation’s 164 members.
Okonjo Iweala, 66 and a US Citizen, still has to await the outcome a General Council meeting in the coming days to determine if the decision is a consensus and for final approval.
Sources familiar with selection process say she could still face serious opposition from the US whose Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer backed South Korean Yoo Myung-hee.
The General Council Chair David Walker of New Zealand and his co-facilitators in the selection process announced Yoo Myung-hee and Okonjo-Iweala as the final two candidates for the position on October 8, 2020.
The result was an historic precedent for the WTO in that it assures that the 7th Director-General will become the first woman to lead the organization.
The two candidates were chosen from a field of five that had advanced to the second round of consultations.
Twitter-@theGBJournal|email: info@govandbusinessjournal.com.ng
