Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been confirmed as the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization. The organization confirmed this on its Twitter handle this afternoon.
Okonjo-Iweala was appointed following the decision taken at a special meeting of the General Council on Monday, February 15. According to the tweet, her term officially starts on Monday, March 1, 2021. Okonjo-Iweala is the first woman and the first African to head the international organisation. She also acknowledged the appointment thanking the WTO members. She shared that there is a job for them to recover the economy from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“I am honoured to have been selected by WTO members as WTO Director-General,” said Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to working with members to shape and implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again. Our organization faces a great many challenges but working together we can collectively make the WTO stronger, more agile and better adapted to the realities of today.”
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