The jostling for the highest office at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is on top gear, today, eight candidates from four continents are set to face the screening panel. Paul Nwabuikwu, the spokesperson to the former minister told PUNCH that his boss has been “Incredibly busy preparing for the meeting”.
After the nomination window was closed on July 8, there are five men and three women who are jostling for the office of the Director-General of the organization and will today 15 and 17th July appear before the members of the 164 countries that form the WTO.
Accordingly, Nigeria being one of the founding members of the international trade negotiation and dispute settlement body established on January 1, 1995, is also fielding it’s one time Finance and Foreign Affairs Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to occupy the office after, Roberto Azevedo who will exit the office on August 31st, 2020.
Meanwhile, other candidates who joined the race are as follows; Amina Mohammed (Kenya), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Yoo Myung-hee (Korea), Jesus Kuri (Mexico), Lian Fox (UK), and Mohammed Al-Tuwaijiri (Saudi Arabia).
The Nigerian Ngozi who was also an ex-director of the World Bank would today afternoon by 15:00hrs face the WTO panel to tell them what she has for the office and how she intends to improve.
During the meeting, members would also have the opportunity to ask her question and recommend her suitability for the office.