Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has formally announced her intention to seek a second four-year term as DG of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
This is over a month after 58 WTO member countries endorsed the African Group’s proposal to support her for another term.
She thanked the member countries and said she would get back to them soon. In a statement to Reuters on Monday, she said: “I want to be part of this chapter of the WTO’s story and I am ready to run.”
For her second term, she said she would focus on “delivery” and “unfinished business.”
In 2020, her appointment was initially blocked by the Trump administration which saw her appointment as an attack on the WTO, an organisation Trump had earlier berated. The US backed her rival, South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee, saying the WTO needed someone with more hands-on experience.
But on February 15, 2021, Okonjo-Iweala got the US backing after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and she could take up the role.
When asked if Trump wins the election, she said she doesn’t worry about things beyond her control.
Okonjo-Iweala also acknowledged the job is tough, citing the geopolitical tensions among the 166 WTO members as one of the biggest challenges. She described the job as “very tough” but said that’s why she feels motivated every day.
Her current term ends in August 2025 and she can run again for another four years.
Before WTO, Okonjo-Iweala was Nigeria’s finance minister twice from 2003 to 2006 and 2011 to 2015 and foreign minister in 2006.
She had a long career at the World Bank where she was a development economist, vice president and managing director of operations from 1982 to 2011.
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