The European Union will support Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Member states finally reached consensus on this candidacy on Monday.
After a long selection process, launched in August after the surprise departure of Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, there are only two women left in the running, the ex-Minister of Finance of Nigeria and the South Korean, Yoo Myung-hee, who was Minister of Commerce.
France has made no secret in recent weeks of its preference for the African candidate, highlighting her political leadership and her negotiating skills, which she notably demonstrated when she was vice-president of the World Bank.
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The support of the Twenty-Seven is to be announced Tuesday morning at the WTO by the European Union's ambassador in Geneva, said a European source.
By obtaining the approval of the Europeans, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala scores points over her Asian rival.
Even if a consensus must be found among the 164 members of the multilateral institution, the European voice counts on the chessboard of world trade.
Behind the scenes, it is also said that the turn has come from the African continent, which has never had a representative at the head of the WTO.
The Nigerian has already obtained the support of 79 countries.
The two heavyweights, Chinese and American, have not yet spoken.
The stakes are high because the organization, based in Geneva, is going through an unprecedented crisis, paralyzed in its key functions, trade negotiation and dispute settlement (see page 17 on the difficulties of reforming the WTO).
No decision is expected before the key deadline of the American election with a Donald Trump who has never ceased, during his four years in office, to question multilateralism. Anne Cheyvialle
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