It finally became clear by the weekend that the coast is set for the Nigerian two-time former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to become the next director general of the World Trade Organization, WTO, when her fiercest contender for the post, South Korean trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, on Friday dropped her bid for the WTO top post. This leaves Okonjo-Iweala as the first woman and first African director-general of the WTO.
In a statement, the South Korea’s trade ministry stated that after due consultations with the United States, and other major countries, Yoo had decided to renounce her candidacy, thus ending the difficulty that almost marred the process of choosing a successor to Robert Azevedo long after key WTO ambassadors had unanimously picked Okonjo-Iweala to lead the organization, but the Trump organization opposed.
The United States , it is believed, had favoured the South-Korean candidate because South-Korea remains a strong ally of the United States. USA is known to have security arrangement with the South-Korea with about 30,000 US troops in South-Korea to defend it from the nuclear- armed North Korea.
The South’s decision to withdraw her candidacy comes two weeks after Joe Biden was sworn in as the new US president.
“South Korea will continue to make various contributions to rebuild and enhance the multilateral trade system,” the trade ministry statement said.
The WTO is widely seen as being in need of reform — even before the Covid-19 crisis hit, it had grappled with stalled trade talks and struggled to curb tensions between the United States and China.
The global trade body has also faced relentless attacks from Washington, which has crippled the WTO dispute settlement appeal system and threatened to leave the organisation altogether.
Okonjo-Iweala had spent about 25 years at the World Bank, rising to be managing director and is seen as a trailblazer in her home country.
Meanwhile, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has expressed her gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians for their unflinching support for her run to become the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
She had emerged the most preferred candidate for the much-coveted office, gaining the support of the US government on Friday.
Expressing her gratitude to the US, the former managing director of the World Bank also congratulated Yoo Mhung-Hee of Rep. Korea for “a hard fought campaign”.
“Thank You President Muhammadu Buhari and all Nigerians for your unflinching support. Thank you friends. Love to my family. Glory to God.”
In June 2020, President Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Frederick Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, for the office of the DG.
President Buhari emphasised his support for Okonjo-Iweala and had promised to solicit the support of other world leaders for her.
“I assure you that we will do all that we can to ensure that you emerge as the Director-General of WTO, not only because you are a Nigerian, but because you are a hardworking Nigerian. You deserve this,’’ Buhari had said.