https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

WTO members push to expedite an Okonjo-Iweala second term bid

Close

Embed Video

WTO members push to expedite an Okonjo-Iweala second term bid

WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Photo by Bloomberg
WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

23rd July 2024

By: Bloomberg

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

A sizable portion of World Trade Organization (WTO) members supported a move from a group of African countries pushing for Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to expedite a run for a second four-year term.

Fifty-eight of the Geneva-based organization’s 164 members, “several speaking on behalf of groups of members, took the floor to comment and express their support for the African Group proposal,” the WTO said in a statement late Monday.

Advertisement

Okonjo-Iweala’s current term expires in August 2025. According to the statement, she said she “took the call of members very seriously and was favorably inclined,” adding that she would reply with her intentions “very soon.”

While the statement didn’t explain why the process needed to start as soon as possible, the US presidential election is set for November. And a return of former US President Donald Trump could jeopardize Okonjo-Iweala’s chances of getting the support of an American administration if he wins.

Advertisement

In the previous presidential election year of 2020, the Trump administration supported a different candidate — then-South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee to be WTO director-general, slowing the selection process. In early 2021, a newly elected Biden administration backed Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank official.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za