Okonjo-Iweala Seeks Second Term As WTO DG

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, has announced her intention to seek a second four-year term in office.

Okonjo-Iweala, who served as Minister of Finance under former President Goodluck Jonathan, told Reuters on Monday that she has some “unfinished business” from her first mandate to complete.

She emerged as the DG of WTO in March 2021 as the first female and African head of the 30-year-old international trade organisation. Her current term expires on 31 August 2025.

She noted that her new priorities for the second term include concluding a deal on ending subsidies on fisheries, achieving a breakthrough in global agriculture negotiations, decarbonising trade, and reforming the WTO’s struggling dispute system.

Officially, she has until the end of November to decide whether to apply again.

Recall that the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump blocked her appointment in 2020, but she secured America’s backing in 2021 after Joe Biden assumed office.

The Biden administration and 27 countries of the European Union supported her candidacy.

When asked whether she could be successful in her bid if Trump were re-elected, she said: “I don’t focus on that because I have no control.”

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