China’s growing importance within WTO highlighted by appointment, trade professor says

China’s Zhang Xiangchen was appointed as a deputy director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday

American lawyer Angela Ellard, France’s WTO envoy Jean-Marie Paugam and Costa Rica’s former trade minister Anabel Gonzalez were also selected

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became director general on March 1, is the first woman and African at the World Trade Organization (WTO) helm. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:18pm, 5 May 2021Updated: 9:10pm, 5 May 2021

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has again chosen trade experts from China and the United States as deputies for its director general, maintaining a delicate geopolitical balancing act which also keeps two fractious powers close at hand.

Two out of the four chosen are women, a first for the global trade watchdog. Their four predecessors, all men, stepped down on March 31.

Replacing their compatriots are Angela Ellard, an American lawyer and trade expert who has worked at the US Congress, and Zhang Xiangchen, currently vice-trade minister and its former WTO ambassador, the global trade body said in a statement.

France’s WTO envoy Jean-Marie Paugam and Costa Rica’s former trade minister Anabel Gonzalez were also selected, it said.

This underscores my commitment to strengthening our organisation with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

“It is the first time in the history of our organisation that half of the [deputy director generals] are women,” WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in the statement.

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