Africa will now have a voice on the World Trade Market – Courage Martey

Africa’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian-American-based Senior Economist has finally been appointed as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General after crashing through the glass ceilings as a woman.

As the first woman and first African to appointed the Director-General of the 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO) after navigating the body’s opaque electoral processes, Okonjo-Iweala will start work with a quotient of respect.

Her appointment has been greeted with a lot of joy across the world, but particularly in Africa.

Speaking to an Economist and Research expert at Databank Courage Martey, he noted that this is a good call and it is going to put Africa at a good advantage to also partake in the policies drafted for trade businesses on the continent.

“This should add another force to the African voice on the negotiations table or the global trade relations and to that extent you expect that even though there are processes for engaging in international trade, her presence there should add the African voice to the whole relationship. This is very significant at the time when we are also starting the African Continental Free Trade Area which is going to be the largest trade union globally” he said.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment is made the more remarkable because in November 2020, then US President Donald Trump had ordered his trade envoy Robert Lighthizer to block her appointment despite her winning support from more than 70% of the WTO members.

Then Joe Biden defeated Trump in the US elections, triggering several foreign-policy about-turns – among them was to give “strong support” to Okonjo-Iweala. And at 15.00 Geneva time on February 15, the WTO held its general council online to confirm the new Director-General.

Okonjo-Iweala is expected at the organisation’s headquarters this week according to diplomats in Geneva. After that, she will embark on the task of reforming, perhaps reimagining, the WTO for the pandemic and post-pandemic era.

Okonjo-Iweala sees trade as a motor for growth, development and raising living standards, which she points out was in the original remit of the WTO. That has long been relegated behind battles over commercial dispute resolution and geopolitical rivalries between China and the United States.