Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: what are the 4 main challenges facing the new WTO director general?
- Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will take over as the director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) next month
- But the first female and first African director general of the global trade body faces numerous challenges
The coronavirus pandemic, log-jammed trade talks and a long-delayed meeting of member states are just a few of the crises awaiting Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as she takes the helm of the World Trade Organization (WTO) next month.
Here are the four main challenges the former Nigerian finance minister will face when she starts in Geneva on March 1.
1. Revive the WTO ministerial conference
The WTO’s top decision-making body meets once every two years, usually at the end of the year.
Many countries use it as a deadline to get trade negotiations moving forward.
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala becomes first African, first woman director general of WTO
After the December 2017 conference in Buenos Aires, the next meeting should have taken place in Nur-Sultan in June 2020 – having been put back six months to avoid the bitter winter in Kazakhstan’s capital.
