My article for I AM History:
10 Things To Know About The New WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
History was recently made when Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed the new Director-General of the The World Trade Organisation (WTO). Dr Konjo-Iweala took on the role formally March 1st 2021, becoming the first woman and the first African to hold the office. We can’t wait to see her shine and make an impact in her new role.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, WTO is an intergovernmental organisation that regulates and facilitates international trade between nations. It officially started operating on 1 January 1995, according to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as GATT, established in 1948, a few years after the United Nations’ main organisations.
10 interesting things to know about Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:
Born into a royal family in Nigeria
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was born 13 June 1954 in Nigeria in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, where her father Professor Chukwuka Okonjo was the Obi (King) from the Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu.
Educated in Nigeria and in the United States
She went to Queen’s School, Enugu, St. Anne’s School, Molete, in the state of Ibadan, and to the International School Ibadan. She then moved to the USA in 1973 at 19 years old to study at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with an AB in Economics in 1976.
Started her research in the USA
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala began research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the late 1970’s and received an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) that supported her doctoral studies.
In 1981, she earned her PhD in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis titled ‘Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria’s agricultural development’.
An economist and international development expert
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent 25-years at the World Bank in Washington DC as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the number two position of Managing Director, from 2007 to 2011. A position overseeing an operational portfolio of over $81 billion, in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia.
Worked on solving poverty
She spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008–2009 food crises, and later during the financial crisis.
The first woman to serve as the country’s finance minister and the first woman to serve in that office twice
In Nigeria, she was the only finance minister to have served under two different presidents: President Olusegun Obasanjo (2003–2006) and President Goodluck Jonathan (2011–2015).
Sits on the board of many leading companies
That includes Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).
A Multi-Awarded Leader
Okonjo-Iweala has received numerous recognition and awards and has been listed as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), etc.
Her first move at the head of WTO has been to ask for more cooperation between members
“WTO members have a further responsibility to reject vaccine nationalism and protectionism while cooperating on promising new treatments and vaccines,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wrote in the Financial Times.
Cares deeply about the links between trade and climate change
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hopes to reactivate and broaden the negotiations on environmental goods and services, while stating that WTO must also assist developing countries as they transition to the use of more environmentally friendly technologies.
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