Okonjo Iweala emerges 1st African female DG of WTO

October 28, 2020

Nigeria’s former Finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has emerged the 1st African female Director-General (DG) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Okonjo- Iweala emerged the winner of the competitive race after polling a total of 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Yoo Myung-Hee.

The Nigerian-born economist and international development expert built a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011).

She also worked as a chairman at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).

Okonjo-Iweala served two terms as Finance Minister (2003–2006, 2011–2015) under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan respectively.

The emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as the DG of WTO makes her the first African and first female Director-General of the international body in its 25-year history.

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