WTO Finalist Wants Body to Confront Issues to Level Trade Field

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — One of two candidates to lead the World Trade Organization said she wants the body to overcome its problems so that it can create a level playing field for international commerce and see a return to a multilateral system.

“Let us get back to a multilateral system. Let’s strengthen that — that is what will serve the world and let’s do less of the bilateral spats that we see,” Nigeria’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in a virtual panel discussion Thursday. “The sooner we confront the challenges the WTO faces so we have a predictable fair, level playing field, the sooner we can get back to that system.”

Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee earlier this month advanced to the final round in the race to be its director-general, setting the stage for the first woman to lead the 25-year-old organization. The WTO plans to name a new leader by Nov. 7. Brazilian Roberto Azevedo stepped down from the job at the end of August — a year before his term ended.

The Geneva-based trade body faces headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S.-China trade battle, a hobbled arbitration system and a lack of tools to tackle growing challenges such as industrial subsidies.

Source: Bloomberg Business News