Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was proposed Wednesday by the presidents of the three main WTO bodies to lead the institution, but the United States immediately expressed its disagreement.
To read also: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Lazard), Alain Taravella (Altarea Cogedim)
A “
troika
” - made up of the Chairman of the General Council, the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body and the Chairman of the Trade Policy Review Body - oversees the selection process for the next head of the World Organization. trade.
This troika, after consulting the members of the WTO, announced Wednesday at an informal meeting in Geneva that it had come to the conclusion that Ms. Ngozi is the candidate most likely to reach a consensus.
“
27 delegations representing more countries
” spoke at the meeting and “
all expressed very strong support for the process and the outcome except one,
” the United States, Keith Rockwell told reporters, the spokesperson for the organization.
The United States prefers the other candidate still in the running, Korean Yoo Myung-hee.
Mr. Rockwell explained that WTO members will meet on November 9 in Geneva to make a decision on the next step.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance of Nigeria, but also ex-number two of the World Bank, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, 66, could become the first woman and the first African to lead the organization in charge of liberalizing world trade .
There is no principle of geographical rotation but the regulations provide that when, in the final selection, countries will have to choose between equally deserving candidates, they must in particular take into account "
the opportunity to reflect the diversity of the Members of the WTO in successive appointments to the post of Director-General
”.
Read also: WTO: the EU will support Nigerian Okonjo-Iweala
The candidate who will win will succeed Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, who left the WTO at the end of August, a year earlier than expected.
This departure, explained by family reasons, occurred in the midst of the global economic slump, leaving the institution in crisis.
The next head of the institution will have to face the economic crisis but also the crisis of confidence in multilateralism and in the merits of the liberalization of world trade, all against the backdrop of a trade war between the two leading world economic powers, the China and the United States.
