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Angozi Okonjo and Yu Myung-hee are both in the running for WTO leadership.
And then there were the two.
The election of a new Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is entering its final phase.
The last two of the preliminary list of eight candidates are former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-iwala and South Korean Trade Minister Yu Myung-hee.
Both are female, which means that if WTO members can connect the one around them in the final stage of selection, the job will be taken up by the woman for the first time.
Mrs. Okanjo-Ivila and Ms. Ku Yu both have political and international experience and were both students at an American university.
Mrs. Okanjo-Ivilla, who has a U.S. There is also citizenship, having served twice as finance minister and short term as foreign minister in Nigeria.
He spent most of his career as an economist at the World Bank. Eventually he rose to the position of managing director, command was essentially second to none in that organization. She has been a failed candidate for a top job in the bank.
He is currently chairing the board of an international vaccine affiliation called Gavy.
He has not spent his career immersed in the details of trade policy like some other candidates. But his work as a development economist and finance minister means he has often had to deal with international trade.
He describes the trade as “a mission and a passion”.
Mrs. Okanjo-Ivila will be the first African to become Director General of the WTO.
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Wealthy U.S., much more of a trade expert.
Her statement to the WTO General Council hinted at a literal lifespan in the region – she said she was born the same year that South Korea ratified the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which became one of the key components of the WTO rules book.
She began her career in business, she said, adding that the WTO was born in 1995.
During that time it has been involved in some of South Korea’s major trade negotiations, including with China and the U.S. She has given the point of “deep knowledge and insight for details of various areas of trade agreement”.
Under stress
Both candidates were keen to show their abilities in bringing the side to the negotiations.
It is a skill that a successful candidate has to go through a lot.
It is important to remember that the WTO Director General can only make progress if he can take member countries on board.
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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shake hands but China and US are locked in a bitter trade dispute
It is said that the DG has no executive power; That they are like Butler announcing to member countries) that dinner is served.
But the WTO is an organization under stress. China and the US – the two largest trading powers on the planet – are embroiled in a bitter trade dispute.
The U.S. has some significant concerns about the WTO. Many of them are former President Trump, but his administration has taken a less collaborative approach to pursuing him.
The United States has undermined the WTO’s ability to resolve trade disputes between member countries, one of its main tasks.
Members who refuse to approve the body hearing an appeal to appoint an effective judge of the new members. It reflects the concerns of the U.S. that the body’s rulings went beyond the WTO rulebook. U.S. The block has left him unable to take on new appeal cases.
This does not mean that the dispute resolution system does not work, but it is seriously weak.
In terms of diversity, the WTO is moving into a new field. It will, almost certainly, be the first time a woman has been appointed director general.
Regional representation can also break new ground, if an African candidate gets a job – the Asian Director General has come before Thailand.
If all goes well in planning, we’ll know who it is in early November.
