The WTO prepares to have a female boss for the first time since its existence, the shortlist is reduced to two

FILE – This combination of archive photos shows the candidates for the WTO Director-General selection process at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, pictured from Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 July 2020, Yoo Myung-hee, from Korea, left, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, from Nigeria. The World Trade Organization says South Korea’s trade minister and a Harvard-trained Nigerian former finance minister have qualified as the two finalists to become the next CEO, securing a woman at the top for the first time. WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said on Thursday, October 8, 2020, that a selection committee found that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea qualified for the final round in a race that will be expect to finish in the next few weeks. (Martial Trezzini, Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone via AP, File)

Geneva: The World Trade Organization announced Thursday that South Korea’s trade minister and a Harvard-trained Nigerian former finance minister qualified as the two finalists to become the next CEO, securing a woman at the top for the first time. .

A selection committee said Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee qualified for the final round in a race expected to end in the next few weeks. They were selected from a group of five candidates.

“The two women who are in the final round are remarkably well qualified. This is something that everyone has agreed on,” WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters. “They have impressed us from the beginning.”

The Geneva-based General Council of the WTO, made up of envoys from the 164-member body, removed Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s former trade minister; Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri, former Saudi Economy Minister and former British Secretary for International Trade and Brexit advocate Liam Fox.

“Deeply grateful and honored to have been selected for the final round in the selection process for the next Director General of @WTO!” tweeted Yoo, who has a law degree from Vanderbilt University. “We need a capable and experienced new leader who can rebuild trust and restore the relevance of @WTO. I look forward to your continued support! Thank you !!!”

Okonjo-Iweala on Twitter thanked WTO members for their support and wrote that he was “happy to be in the final round”.

A previous round had reduced the list of candidates from eight to five. The winner is expected to be announced no later than early November.

Former WTO director general Roberto Azevedo of Brazil made a surprise announcement in May that he would be leaving work a year earlier, citing a “personal decision.” He left without a successor on August 31.

Azevedo’s seven-year term was marked by intense pressure from US President Donald Trump, who repeatedly accused the WTO of ‘unfair’ treatment of the United States and started a trade war with China in defiance of the WTO system. . In the past, Trump has threatened to remove the United States from the trade body entirely.

The WTO dispute resolution system is perhaps the world’s best-known venue for resolving international trade disputes, such as those that have faced aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus in recent decades. But the United States has clogged the dispute resolution machinery by blocking new members from its highest court, the Appellate Body, which has been unable to address new disputes since last year.

The next CEO will face the daunting task of keeping the United States on board if Trump wins a second term, amid accusations from Washington that China is engaging in unfair practices such as over-subsidizing industries and stealing intellectual property, especially from expense of the West. companies hoping to take advantage of the expanding Chinese market. China rejected the accusations.

The WTO, which was created in 1995 out of the previous General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, has never had a director general or African citizen as its leader. It operates by consensus, which means that any member country can block decisions.