By Gift Habib
Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee have advanced to the final round of the contest for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) coveted position.
The contest will likely produced first female Director Genwral in the history of the 25 years of the organisation. Both female contestants were cleared for the final round from the five that made it to this round.
Okonjo-Iweala served two stints as Nigeria’s finance minister and one term as foreign affairs minister. She has 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.
Yoo is South Korea’s trade minister. During her 25-year career in government, she has helped expand her country’s trade network through bilateral accords with the U.S., China and the U.K.
WTO General Council Chairman David Walker plans to formally announce the results to the institution’s delegates today in Geneva.
The report noted that United Kingdom’s Liam Fox, Kenya’s Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri unfortunately could not make it in the second round of consultations.
The third and final phase of the consultation process will begin later this month and run until November 6, after which the WTO will endeavour to name a consensus winner of the race.
