Okonjo-Iweala Confirms Plans To Run For Second Term As WTO Head

Okonjo-Iweala Confirms Plans To Run For Second Term As WTO Head

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman and first African to head the World Trade Organization, will seek a second four-year term when her mandate expires next August, her spokesman said Monday.

“We can confirm that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has officially announced her intention to seek a second term as Director-General of the WTO,” spokesman Ismaila Dieng said in a statement.

Dieng said the 70-year-old had taken into account “the overwhelming and broad-based support expressed by members”.

Her current term at the helm of the 166-member WTO ends in August 2025.

Her decision to seek another term was officially communicated to WTO chair Norwegian Ambassador Petter Olberg on Monday.

The WTO’s African Group formally requested that she make herself available for a second term at that same meeting, and proposed that the process to re-nominate her should begin as soon as possible.

So far no other candidates have come forward.

Okonjo-Iweala, who took over in March 2021, has hinged her leadership on breathing new life into the sclerotic organisation.

The former foreign and finance minister of Nigeria sold herself as someone who can bang heads together and get business done.