Africa Press-Nigeria:
The World Trade Organisation is currently engaged in frenzied activities to ensure Nigeria’s Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who came tops in the election process having secured cross-regional backing against strong US’ opposition, is given the job she deserves. Nosa James-Igbinadolor looks at why the U.S is opposing the candidacy of Nigeria’s two-time finance minister, and why she will surmount the challenge and win again
For a few keen observers of the unending hunt for a new Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the hurriedly organised meeting in mid-October, in Abuja, between Nigeria’s candidate and former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and President Muhammadu Buhari did not smell so aromatic.
While the agenda between the President and the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy wasn’t publicly declared, a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, proclaimed that President Muhammadu Buhari assured former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the Federal Government will do all within its power to ensure that she becomes the Director-General of World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the country will push until she wins.
“I assure you that we will do all that we can to ensure that you emerge as the Director-General of WTO, not only because you are a Nigerian, but because you are a hardworking Nigerian. You deserve this,” Mr. Buhari had said
He assured Dr. Okonjo-Iweala that he would make more phone calls and send letters to some world leaders for more support.
What is now obvious from the tenor and setting of the hurriedly arranged meeting is that there was a recognition at that time by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and her team of the looming threat to the country’s desire to assume the leadership of the WTO from the United States.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer critical of the WTO’s handling of global trade, has been pushing for South Korea’s candidate, Yoo Myung-hee, even though Okonjo-Iweala gained US citizenship in 2019.
Sources close to Mr Lighthizer say he views Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as being too close to pro-trade internationalists in Washington like Robert Zoellick, a former U.S Trade Representative who worked with Ms Okonjo-Iweala when he was president of the World Bank.
A source told THISDAY that at the meeting with the President, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank Managing Director impressed on Buhari, the need for the President to push harder on her candidacy by engaging further and concretely with world leaders through letters and phone calls.
The push partially worked. The former finance minister, received a key endorsement on Wednesday October 26, from the WTO selection committee, which moved her a step closer to becoming the WTO’s first female director-general. However, the four-month selection process to find the next WTO director-general hit a road block when Washington said it would continue to back the South Korean trade minister.
The US could not support a consensus decision to appoint Okonjo-Iweala, Deputy US Trade Representative Dennis Shea said during a meeting of WTO delegates in Geneva. Mr Shea said the US disagreed with the way in which the process was being carried out.
In a statement critical of the WTO, the Office of the US Trade Representative, which advises President Donald Trump on trade policy, said the organisation “must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field”.
Ms Yoo had “distinguished herself” as a trade expert and “has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organisation”, the statement said.
It added: “This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade. There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations. The WTO is badly in need of major reform.”
William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official now with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies told Reuters that the U.S. move was likely to worsen trade tensions already running high within the WTO.
“It’s very Trumpian. They’re basically saying ‘We want to get our way and we’re willing to throw sand in the gears if we don’t get it’,” he said, adding that it was possibly a bid to gain concessions in other disputes.
U.S President Trump has in the past described the WTO as “horrible” and biased towards China, and some appointments to key roles in the organisation have already been blocked.
Nigerian officials and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s team continue to meet and engage with global leaders to solidify her candidacy against vigorous U.S opposition. A statement from the Federal Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry last week announced “Nigeria is currently reaching out to all members of the WTO including the United States and South Korea to overcome the impasse as well as persuade the United States to join the consensus.”
The ministry said the WTO’s 164 member states were expected to adopt Okonjo-Iweala as the organization’s director-general by consensus, but the United States was the sole country to oppose her, flouting the organisation’s rules.
At the end of last week, President Buhari had spoken to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who reiterated Europe’s support for Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala bid, to become the next Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Nigerian government further announced that it was reaching out to the United States and other members of the WTO to clear all bottlenecks to the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as DG.
