A new Director-General has been appointed to the WTO.

A new Director-General has been appointed to the WTO.

The General Council agreed by consensus on 15 February 2021 to select Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria as the organization's seventh Director-General. She is the first woman and the first African to be chosen as Director-General. Prior to that, Mr. Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo was the Director-General of the WTO and resigned in August last year, one year before the expiry of his mandate.

 

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria's Finance Minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the No. 2 position of Managing Director, Operations. In addition, Ngozi Okonyo-Iveala has received numerous awards from various leading journals and universities around the world in various years and is currently conducting some research in the fields of finance, economics and development. Dr Okonjo-Iweala graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University (1976) and earned a Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 1981). 

 

The Director-General of the WTO is elected by ballot every four years and the ballot is based on the principle of consensus. He/she heads the Secretariat, which is an independent body separate from the Members. The Director General and the staff of the Secretariat are international civil servants independent of the Members. The Secretariat does not have the authority to make decisions, as decisions are made only by the Members.

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