Tag: Okonjo Iweala

The first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization on Monday welcomed an apology from a Swiss newspaper that had dismissed the seasoned international professional as a grandmother. “It is important & timely that they’ve apologised,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a tweet. The development economist took over as the new WTO chief on Monday after a long, high-powered career serving as minister of finance and foreign affairs in her native Nigeria and 25 years at the World Bank. But when several Swiss newspapers announced her appointment last month, they decided the most noteworthy thing to mention about the new WTO chief was as a matriarch. “This grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” read the headline of the article published by the Aargauer Zeitung and...

The World Trade Organisation on Friday postponed a meeting where members are expected to pick a new Director-General. The postponement is coming days after the United States declined to support the favored candidate, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The organization earlier announced that the meeting would hold next week but a communication sited by AFP showed that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely. “It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November,” the head of the selection committee told member states. “I am therefore postponing this meeting until further notice during which period I will continue to undertake consultations with delegations,” he added....

Tag: Okonjo Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala Accepts Apology from Swiss Newspaper over ‘grandmother’ Remarks

WTO Postpones Meeting to Pick New DG