Confusion, uncertainty as United States opposes Okonjo-Iweala as WTO boss

In its bid to elect a new leader, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been plunged into confusion and uncertainty after the United States rejected Nigeria’s Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the global organization’s next directorgeneral.

Earlier on Wednesday, the coast was clear that the former Nigerian finance minister would become the first African director-general of the international body in its 25-year history. Okonjo-Iweala is the frontrunner in the WTO job contest ahead of her closest rival, Yoo Mhyung-Hee, who is the current Minister of Trade for South Korea.

The WTO ambassadors, charged with finding a successor to Brazilian Roberto Azevedo had decided that Nigerian technocrat should be its next chief as she had secured wide cross-regional backing, Reuters had reported.

Their decision, which awaits approval from WTO members, caps a more than four-month selection process involving intensive lobbying in the final round. However, Washington said it did not back her appointment and threatened to veto her new role in the organization.

A development economist and professor of capital markets, Uche Uwaleke, said the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala, would impact positively on Nigeria’s economy.

Prof. Uwaleke believes her emergence would, first, put the country in a stronger position to spearhead the cause of the African Continental Free Trade Area project which seeks to promote free intra-regional trade.

“Secondly, I expect that she will equally advise economically managers in Nigeria on how to achieve a favourable balance of trade and by extension address BOP difficulties especially in our trade relations with Developed countries and China in particular.

“This development will improve the country’s image and help attract foreign investments.” She served as Nigeria’s finance minister during the tenures of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. She also had experience working at international governance bodies as a former managing director of the World Bank and as a chairman at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

Meanwhile, amid the current national political and economic uncertainties as well as other disturbing developments in Nigeria, the country will have something to cheer about as Okonjo-Iweala is set to become the new director-general of the WTO.

If not vetoed by the USA, she becomes the first African to head the top WTO job.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: WTO announces Okonjo-Iweala as new DG

During her campaign, the development economist and former World Bank chieftain had advocated that the incoming director-general should be elected based on credibility irrespective of gender or country.

She was also coordinating minister for economy under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. She scaled through all the phases to emerge the front-runner for the position which had eight candidates at the first stage of selection.

The candidates included Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri, who is currently a Kingdom of Saudi Arabia minister advising the royal court on international and local economic strategic matters; Liam Fox, a former British secretary of state for international trade and currently a lawmaker at the U.K. Parliament; and Jesus Seade Kuri, an economist who has been working for the Mexican foreign affairs ministry since 2018.

Others included Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, from Egypt who has been working as a consultant since 2017, but had previously worked at the WTO.

He was director of the trade in services and investment division of the institution between 2001 and 2017; as well as Amina C. Mohamed, who served as Kenya’s foreign affairs and international trade minister between 2013 and 2018.

Myung-hee was the first female to have the job and has held different positions that cover the same area. Back in 1995, she was in charge of WTO affairs at the Korean trade ministry. Meanwhile, Nigerians have been reacting on social media on the likely emergence of their own as the WTO boss.

They said the former cabinet members and appointees of President Jonathan are doing exceptionally well.

A Twitter user, Osho Oluwaseun with handle @pastormam1 says “Akinwunmi Adesina and now Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. Solid people from previous governments doing big things,” Also reacting to the development on Twitter, , OAP Chuma Nnoli [@ChumaNnoli] said that the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as the new WTO DG, and Akinwumi Adesina as AfDB President is a proof that Nigeria has great minds but bad leadership is its greatest challenge.l” Another user of the bird app, Sodiq Tade [@SodiqTade] expressed his joy seeing aides under the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration doing great across the board.

He tweeted; “Those who worked with Jonathan are either President of AFDB or WTO DG. I wonder how those who are working with Buhari right now will serve the Country/Africa/World after Buhari administration. It shows GEJ worked with the best brains those years.”

Meanwhile, The Daily Times analyzes the challenges ahead for her. The current director-general, Ricardo Azevedo from Brazil, had already announced that he would leave the WTO on August 31, one year before his mandate is due to expire. Azevedo cited personal reasons for leaving, but also said it would be good for the organization to have a different leader to face “the new post-Covid realities.”

As it stands, analysts expect that the next WTO boss must work round the clock to reposition the organization especially at a time when world trade has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic Also, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement remains a key bone of contention especially in the area of dissimilarities that exist in trade policies of different countries.

It is believed that many world economies currently do not prioritize mutual trade in policies, an area where experts believe the new WTO DG must improve advocacy on. In a similar vein, the WTO has been scared by a United States’ decision in December to block the appointment of two new members to the appellate body.

The move has meant that the WTO has not been able to rule on new trade disputes between member-countries since then.

As such, it is expected that when Okonjo Iweala assumes office, she will be able to sort out the grey areas with regards to conflict resolution among member countries. Also, the Geneva-based organization was created in 1995 and expanded world trade rules beyond solely goods to include, among others, services and intellectual property for the first time.

However, critics say it has failed to evolve since its creation.

Therefore, economists, trade experts, world leaders and Nigerians are eagerly waiting to see how Dr. Okonji-Iweala will steer the affairs of the apex world trade body in the coming years to advance better policies that will benefit all member countries.

If Washington does not oppose her final emergence, she becomes the second Nigerian to head a prominent International organization after Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who recently got a second term as president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).