BEVERLY HILLS, February 01, (THEWILL) – New Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said she is eager to get straight to work as she took up her role on Monday as the first woman and first African to lead the beleaguered global trade regulatory body.
“I am coming into one of the most important institutions in the world and we have a lot of work to do. I feel ready to go,” the former Nigerian Finance and Foreign Minister said as she arrived for her first day on the job in Geneva.
Hopes abound that the 66-year-old will be able to help the WTO address a range of towering challenges, including navigating through the global economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralysed and moribund,” she told AFP a day after her nomination last month.
Known as Dr Ngozi, she is taking the helm after the WTO was left adrift for six months following the sudden departure of Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo last August, a year ahead of schedule.
Following a lengthy selection process, Ngozi, a Development Economist who spent 25 years at the World Bank, was finally anointed by the WTO’s 164 members on February 15.
From an initial eight candidates, Ngozi was the clear favourite among the last two standing in November.
However, her appointment was delayed by former US President Donald Trump blocking her nomination. The arrival of his successor, Joe Biden, made it possible for her to receive the consensus backing required to end the impasse.
Her first day at the helm of the WTO coincides with a meeting of its top decision-making body, the General Council.
Its 164 member states will discuss issues such as trade rules on coronavirus vaccine distribution which Okonjo-Iweala has identified as a priority.
“I am hoping to be able to listen in and see what delegations have to say, what ambassadors have to say, about the key issues” she told journalists about her expectations for her first day.
On the agenda is also the date and venue for its major ministerial conference which was due to be held in Kazakhstan last year but was delayed due to the pandemic.
Okonjo-Iweala has said she hopes that event will provide a venue for clinching various deals including on cutting fisheries subsidies and reform of the WTO’s top appeals body which was paralysed by the Trump administration
Since the director general role holds few executive powers, some analysts question Okonjo-Iweala’s ability to revive the body in the face of so many challenges including persistent US-China trade tensions and growing protectionism heightened by the pandemic.
The question remains whether the new WTO chief, considered a strong-willed trailblazer, will be able to mould the organisation in her image before then.
While some observers voice hope that Okonjo-Iweala will inject much-needed energy, others stress she has little wiggle room to make dramatic change, given that WTO decisions are made by member states – and only when they can reach consensus.
One of her first tasks will be to nominate four new deputy directors to help recharge the organisation’s negotiating mechanisms.
Okonjo-Iweala has said that one of her main objectives is to push long-blocked trade talks on fishery subsidies across the finish line in time for the ministerial conference, but with negotiations dragging on, that could be a tough sell.
And in the midst of a global economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, she has plenty of other challenges on her plate. Okonjo-Iweala has voiced concern about growing protectionism and nationalism during the coronavirus crisis and insists trade barriers must be lowered to help the world recover. Among the issues to be discussed on Monday is a controversial push for the WTO to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines.
Dozens of nations say this would help boost production and access and would rein in the pandemic sooner, but the notion has been fiercely rejected by pharmaceutical giants and the countries that host them.
Okonjo-Iweala chaired the Gavi vaccine alliance before running for the WTO and has made tackling the pandemic another of her priorities. In a likely bid to avoid a row on day one, Ngozi has called for flexibility, encouraging voluntary licencing agreements, such as the one agreed between AstraZeneca and the Serum Institute of India, whereby the Serum Institute of India factory manufactures the pharmaceutical giant’s Covid-19 vaccines.
The Ottawa Group, which brings together the European Union and 12 countries including Brazil, Canada and Switzerland, will meanwhile demand that countries commit not to hinder the flow of medical goods during the pandemic, and remove customs duties on those considered essential.
Another daunting challenge facing the new director general will be following through on her vow to breathe life back into the appeals branch of the WTO’s dispute settlement system. The Appellate Body, sometimes called the supreme court of world trade, ground to a halt in December 2019 after years of relentless US opposition.
The United States, along with European countries and Canada, want an overhaul at the WTO, believing it has not responded correctly to the trade distortions caused by China.
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