Okonjo-Iweala has said, she is excited about being declared candidate with the largest and broadest support among members in the contest to become the Director General of WorldTrade Organisation (DG, WTO), compared to her sole opponent, Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea.
In an optimistic outlook, through her verified Twitter page, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala declared that she is positive despite hiccups in her bid to emerge the next DG, WTO.
This is after a rigorous selection process that has seen the former minister of Finance scale through a lot of hurdles, making it to the top two.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the third and final round of the selection process of the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was concluded on Tuesday, 27 October 2020 and the result was announced on Wednesday, 28th October 2020.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala secured the support of the majority of the member-countries but is yet to be declared and returned the winner.
This is because apart from winning the election, all 164 member-states of WTO were expected to adopt the winner by consensus, in accordance with the rule of procedure of the WTO.
It is important to highlight that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has secured cross-regional backing with only the United States opposing the consensus.
A meeting of the General Council of the WTO has been scheduled for 9th November, 2020 for the final decision on the election process.
Expressing her optimism in winning the race, Dr. Okono-Iweala said: “Happy for the success & continued progress of our @wto DG bid. Very humbled to be declared the candidate with the largest, broadest support among members & most likely to attract consensus. We move on to the next step on Nov 9, despite hiccups. We’re keeping the positivity going.”
