I am the best person for the WTO job - Alan Kyeremanteng

As candidates for the top job of the World Trade Organization (WTO) begin making presentations to the organization Ghana’s candidate and former Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanteng has declared he is the best person for the job.

Mr. Kyeremanteng who made a formal presentation and spelt out his vision to the WTO council yesterday says his experience in diverse sectors puts him above the other candidates.

Alan Kyeremanteng who is the AU’s choice for the job has to contend with eight other candidates for the job.

It still remains unclear who the favorite candidate is but sources at WTO say Mr. Kyeremanteng could become a strong player in the organization’s elections process especially having gotten the backing of the African Union and the ACP Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.

Speaking at the World Trade Organization’s headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday, after his presentation to the council, Mr. Kyeremanteng said his experience puts him above the others.

“I see myself and what I believe makes me the right person for this job. If you look at first the challenges that confront this organization and you look at the work that the director has to do to address these challenges, my sense is that you need an individual who will come to this job with a combination of skills and experiences. It is true that there is a technical component of this job that supports the analytical work of the secretariat.”

He continued “in that regard I will come to this job not only as an economist, but also as a lawyer and I think these are the two most important requirements in terms of skill that will help a DG contribute to the strategic guidance for analytic work of this organization.”

“But I also come to this job as someone who is a practical negotiator, and I have been involved in negotiations at the bilateral level, at the multilateral level, at the regional level in Africa. I also come to this job with a political insight which I think are absolutely critical,” he added.