- The World Trade Organisation said Okonjo-Iweala emerged as the sole candidate for its DG position
- The nomination for the position began on October 8 and closed on November 9
- Okonjo-Iweala is the first woman and first African to occupy the WTO’s DG position
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has announced that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, its current Director-General, is the sole candidate for the position.
WTO, in a statement on Saturday, November 9, said Okonjo-Iweala, two-time Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, confirmed her willingness to serve a second four-year term on Monday, September 16.
The statement noted that the WTO began preparations to fill its Director-General position, which will become vacant on August 31, 2025, at the expiration of Okonjo-Iweala’s first term, on Tuesday, October 8 and allowed nominations till Friday, November 8.
The statement read, “Nominations for Director-General closed; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala confirmed as sole candidate.
“Ambassador Petter Olberg of Norway, Chair of the General Council, informed WTO members on 9 November that no further nominations for the position of Director-General had been received by the deadline of 8 November and that the incumbent Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is therefore the only candidate for the role.
“Director-General Okonjo-Iweala confirmed her willingness to serve a second four-year term in the role in a letter to the chair on 16 September. On 8 October, the WTO formally commenced the process for appointing its next Director-General, with members given until 8 November to submit nominations.”
Okonjo-Iweala emerges as sole candidate
The chairman of the WTO’s General Council, Petter Olberg, messaged member countries that the organisation had not received any additional nominations by the November 8 deadline.
He said, “Under the procedures for the appointment of Directors-General (WT/L/509), I am required to communicate to members a consolidated list of candidatures received for the post of Director-General immediately after the close of the nomination period, in this case, 8 November 2024.
“I would like to advise members that at the end of the nomination period, the only candidacy received for this post is from Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the incumbent Director-General.
“The notification received from Dr Okonjo-Iweala, pursuant to paragraph 12 of the Procedures in WT/L/509, was circulated to all members together with my communication in document JOB/GC/406, dated 16 September 2024.”
He noted that the General Council chair would soon communicate the next steps in the process.
Okonjo-Iweala is the first woman and African to head the WTO
Okonjo-Iweala was appointed the seventh Director-General of the WTO for an initial four-year term on February 15, 2021, as the first woman and African to head the global trade organisation. Her current term will end on August 31, 2025.
She listed her priorities as Director-General of the WTO to include getting long-blocked trade talks on fishery subsidies across the finish line and breathing life back into WTO’s Appellate Body.
Okonjo-Iweala was a two-time Minister of Finance in Nigeria from 2003 to 2006 and 2011 to 2015.
She spent 25 years at the World Bank and rose to the second-highest position of Managing Director of operations.
Okonjo-Iweala has been blazing the trail and is on the advisory board of many financial and economic teams of governments, organisations and businesses.
20 interesting facts you may not know about Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is an iconic woman of many firsts. She clocked 70 on June 13, 2024, and was celebrated by many people across the country.
As the global development expert celebrated her 70th birthday, TheRadar curated 20 things you didn’t know about the icon.
