China News Service, February 15th. According to foreign media reports, the top decision-making body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) plans to hold a meeting at 15:00 on February 15th, Geneva time (22:00 on February 15th, Beijing time). The meeting will discuss decisions. The new candidate for Director-General.
The current only candidate, former Nigerian Finance Minister Okonjo Iweala, is expected to be elected smoothly, which also means that the WTO is expected to welcome its first female director-general.
Data map: Oconjo Iweala, candidate for WTO Director-General.
According to previous reports, Azevedo, the sixth director-general of the WTO, left his post on August 31, 2020 one year earlier.
Subsequently, Okonjo Iweala and Yu Mingxi from South Korea stood out from the 8 candidates for director-general nomination and entered the final competition.
On October 28, 2020, the WTO Director-General selected the "three-member panel" and announced that Oconjo Iweala was the only candidate recommended for the new Director-General, but the United States opposed this.
According to WTO regulations, all 164 member states need to reach a consensus before a candidate can be elected. As a result, the candidate of WTO Director-General is "difficult to give birth," and the post has been vacant for more than 5 months.
However, as Yu Mingxi announced his withdrawal from the competition on February 5, 2021, the Biden administration of the United States also declared that it "strongly supports" Oconjo Iweala, and the deadlock was broken.
Okonjo Iweala, 66, was Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and worked at the World Bank for 25 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), helping to distribute the new crown vaccine worldwide.