David Walker, chairman of the General Council of the World Trade Organization, announced on the 8th that the members decided after two rounds of consultations that the new director general will be selected from two female candidates. This means that the WTO will welcome its first female director-general since its establishment 25 years ago.
Walker said that after the second round of consultations, Nigerian candidate Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korean candidate Yu Mingxi continued to stand for the election of director-general. The third and final round of consultations for the selection of the Director-General will be held from October 19th to 27th.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the former Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. He has worked for the World Bank for 25 years and served as Executive Vice President. Currently, she serves as the chairman of the board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
Yu Myung Hee is the Minister of Trade and Negotiations of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea. He has worked in the trade field for 25 years and has represented South Korea in many major international negotiations. An important negotiator in negotiations such as the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.
Azevedo, the sixth director-general of the WTO, resigned on August 31, ending his term a year earlier. The selection process for the new Director-General was launched on June 8, and a total of 8 candidates were formally nominated.
According to the plan, a three-person team composed of Walker, Chairman of the General Council, Dasio Castillo, Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, and Harald Asperond, Chairman of the Trade Policy Review Body, will start from September 7 with Representatives of all WTO members met separately and launched three rounds of consultations, gradually narrowing the scope of candidates, and finally determining the director general through the principle of consensus.
