{"id":44164,"date":"2020-10-27T13:09:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T12:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=44164"},"modified":"2020-10-27T13:09:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T12:09:59","slug":"breaking-okonjo-iweala-breaks-the-glass-ceiling-emerges-first-female-dg-of-wto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/breaking-okonjo-iweala-breaks-the-glass-ceiling-emerges-first-female-dg-of-wto\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING! Okonjo-Iweala Breaks The Glass Ceiling, Emerges First Female DG Of WTO"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>*China Quietly Tips The Scales In Nigeria\u2019s Favour As EU, US Hit Deadlock\u2026<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>*WTO\u2019s Council To Officially Announce\u00a0 Okonjo-Iweala\u2019s Choice Today, Tuesday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>* South Korea\u2019s Candidate, Yoo Myung-hee To Formally Accept Decision Today<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nigeria\u2019s former finance minister and a former managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has emerged as the \u00a0first\u00a0 female Director-General of the\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wto.org\/\" rel=\"external noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">World Trade Organization<\/a><\/em>(WTO), shattering the glass ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>Okonjo-Iweala broke the glass ceiling, emerging as the first African and the first female to attain the position of DG of WTO by springing up as the finalist after eliminating South Korea\u2019s current\u00a0 trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee in a fierce\u00a0 battle for the coveted job on Monday night.<\/p>\n<p><em>The New Diplomat<\/em>\u00a0Europe\u2019s outpost office gathered that with the EU nations and the United States moving in opposite direction, a move that triggered a deadlock between the two powerful geo-political allies for the first time in many years, it was the decisive and quiet support of China that finally tipped the scales in Okonjo-Iweala\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n<p>The WTO\u2019s Ambassador Walker\u2019s led General Council, the overall organ responsible for picking the organization\u2019s next DG, would officially announce the choice of Nigeria\u2019s former Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala today, October 27.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomatic sources confided in The New Diplomat that an official announcement to this effect would be formally made today by New Zealand\u2019s Ambassador Walker\u2019s led WTO General Council.<\/p>\n<p>The race for the coveted job of DG of WTO has been fierce with Nigeria\u2019s Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea\u2019s serving Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, running neck-and-neck in the intense jostle and game of global diplomatic intrigues.<\/p>\n<p>Indications had emerged that influential global trading countries including the United States(US), the European Union(EU) nations, China, Japan and the BRICS countries were strongly divided on who should be the candidate to lead the WTO.<\/p>\n<p>High-level sources confided in The New Diplomat\u2019s Europe\u2019s outpost operations that it \u201ctook serious negotiations and prolonged talks to get China to go along with Nigeria with its decision to support Okonjo-Iweala.\u201d China controls about 12.4% of the global trade.<\/p>\n<p>The influence of the United States on global trade is reportedly huge as well given that it single-handedly controls about 12% of global trade just as China holds about 12.4% of the global trade statistics.<\/p><div data-ad-id=\"32665\" style=\"text-align:center; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;float:none;\" class=\"afw afw_ad_image afw_ad afwadid-32665  \">\r\n                                                            <div style=\"font-size:10px;text-align:center;color:#cccccc;\">Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.accessbankplc.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"auto\" max-width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Banner-1.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n                                                                        \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>Diplomatic sources hinted that East Asia countries with the exception of China went along with Myung-hee in preference. These include Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macay, Mongolia and South Korea. Japan, a US ally is another strong international player in global trade with an estimated $705.7 billion worth of goods globally in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>However, on Okonjo-Iweala\u2019s side apart from the EU and 55 AU nations were 24 solid ACP countries that reportedly expressed preference for her candidacy. The CP countries in this regard include Bahamas, Cuba, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica Republic, Dominica, Greneda, Fiji, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Timor-Lester, Parpua New Guinea, etc.<\/p>\n<p>A combination of this preponderance form about 79 block countries that solidly stood behind Nigeria\u2019s Okonjo-Iweala. However, it was the quiet and deft diplomacy of China that sealed the deal in Okonjo-Iweala\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n<p>A top diplomat in Geneva told The New Diplomat in confidence: \u201cChina quietly changed the game. They said nothing openly but silently they, deftly China voted in Nigeria\u2019s favour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Okonjo-Iweala, 66, served as Nigeria\u2019s first female finance and later foreign minister, and has a 25-year career behind her as a development economist and international finance expert at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two. She is also on Twitter\u2019s board of directors and is a special envoy for the World Health Organization\u2019s COVID-19 fight.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, Okonjo-Iweala has successfully edged out South Korea\u2019s Myung-hee. Yoo Myung-hee 53, is the serving South Korea\u2019s trade minister, following a long career in trade, diplomacy, law and foreign affairs. She had previously served as South Korea\u2019s foreign Affairs minister, among others. A lawyer and diplomat, Myung-hee holds degrees in Law, Public Policy and was called to the New York Bar.<\/p>\n<p>One major implication of this is that China has somewhat stamped its feet on the global diplomatic and economic dynamics as an indispensable power, having deftly supported Okonjo-Iweala to victory as the US and EU purportedly cancelled themselves in a diplomatic deadlock.<\/p>\n<p>Already, China is the biggest economy in the world in terms of P3, Purchasing Power Parity. Thus, the consequence of this on the global scale, according to diplomats, is quite telling.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria\u2019s former finance minister and a former managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has emerged as the \u00a0first\u00a0 female Director-General of the\u00a0World Trade Organization(WTO), shattering the glass ceiling.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[594,3204],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-44164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news","tag-ngozi-okonjo-iweala","tag-wto"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING! 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