The European Parliament has backed the candidacy of Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her quest to lead the World Trade Organisation as its Director-General.
The Parliament in a letter on Wednesday said it had screened the two remaining candidates in the WTO DG race — Okonjo-Iweala and Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea — and was convinced that the Nigerian candidate has the ‘energy’ and is ‘well-equipped’ for the job.
Therefore, it called on the European Union to support the candidacy of the former World Bank director.
“Dr Okonjo-Iweala appears to be well-equipped for being the fair broker who could bring key players together and help them find the compromises that will be needed to resolve the WTO‘s complex set of challenges and the deep disagreements between its members. We, therefore, very much hope that the EU will be able to support Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy during the last round,” the parliament noted.
WTO is set to be led by a woman for the first time no matter which of the two candidates succeeds in their bid to step into Roberto Azevedo's shoes, after he stepped down as WTO director-general in August, a year ahead of schedule.
The third and final round of consultations for a consensus around a single candidate is due to begin next week and end on October 27, with the announcement to be made in early November.