The First Female Leader of W.T.O

The First Female Leader of WTO

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Who is she?

The First Female Leader of WTO: Okonjo-Iweala was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria, where her father Professor Chukwuka Okonjo was the Obi (King) from the Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu.

Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Queen’s School, Enugu, St. Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan, and the International School Ibadan. She arrived in the US in 1973 as a teenager to study at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with an AB in Economics in 1976. In 1981, she earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis titled Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria’s agricultural development. She received an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which supported her doctoral studies.

She a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert. She sits on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity (ARC). On 15 February 2021, she was appointed as Director-General of the World Trade Organization. Her term will begin on 1 March 2021, when she will become the first woman and the first African to hold the office.

Previously, Okonjo-Iweala spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011). She also served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003–2006, 2011–2015) under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively.

She was the first woman to serve as the country’s finance minister, the first woman to serve in that office twice, and the only finance minister to have served under two different presidents. In 2005, Euromoney named her as global finance minister of the year.

First Female Leader of WTO

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

At the World Trade Organization (WTO) virtual meeting on Monday, 164 member countries, including 66-year-old Nigeria Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala, were elected as directors-general for four years. He will officially take office on March 1 and can be nominated for the second time after the end of his four-year term on August 31, 2025.

Last Leader of WTO before Okonjo-Iweala

WTO

The WTO was without a director-general since September when Roberto Azevedo stepped down as director-general a year earlier and has since been run by four deputy directors-general.

Okonjo-Iweala faced a US veto during the Trump era that prevented him from running for office. But now, in dangerous circumstances for the global economy and the World Trade Organization itself, she accepted this responsibility. Last week, the Biden government formally announced its support for Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy for the presidency of the World Trade Organization (WTO), paving the way for him to become the first African woman to head the WTO.

Her policies about the pandemic

WTO

Okonjo-Iweala told the BBC that the culture of getting the Corona vaccine in rich countries and waiting in poor countries should be avoided. Criticizing the restrictions on the export of corona vaccine in some countries, she said that this would slow down the process of overcoming the crisis.

The new head of the World Trade Organization noted that the identification of new species of the Coronavirus has meant that virtually no country or nation will be safe until all countries are vaccinated.

Therefore, she called for the ownership of the Corona vaccine to be amended so that developing and underdeveloped countries would not be deprived of the vaccine. Iweala said some developed countries were opposed to the theory, which could be addressed through licensing.

So far, 78 countries around the world have started the corona vaccination and over 176 million units have been injected. Americans have received the highest per capita Corona vaccine ever, and according to the latest information, 54.6 million units have been vaccinated in the country. Meanwhile, the African continent, even South Africa – as the continent’s richest country – still faces serious challenges in obtaining the Corona vaccine.

The Moral Catastrophe

WTO

The Director-General of the World Health Organization has also warned that the unfair distribution of the corona vaccine not only causes a moral catastrophe, but also it would cost approximately $ 9.2 trillion for the world economy

“The world is on the verge of a catastrophic moral error, and the price of this error will take the lives of people in the poorest countries in the world,” Tadros Adhanom recently stressed at a meeting of the board of the World Health Organization in Geneva.

“Rich countries distribute the corona vaccine, while less developed countries have to wait and watch,” he said. With each passing day, the gap widens.

“Although the unfair distribution of the corona vaccine could have short-term political implications for governments, it would be against global health benefits in the long run,” Adhanom said. He also noted that next Saturday, a year after the announcement of the state of emergency over the pandemic, “time is short to deal with the disease.”

According to the latest statistics, 109751117 people have been infected with the Coronavirus so far, which 2420616 people have lost their lives.