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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb21/03) Geneva, 4 Feb (D. Ravi Kanth) – Nigeria’s former finance minister Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said that she is waiting with “strategic patience” for her appointment as the next WTO director-general (DG), hoping for a positive decision by the Biden administration to reverse the block on her appointment placed by the previous Trump administration. “It’s a little bit out of my hands,” Ms Okonjo-Iweala said during a virtual program sponsored by the Center for Global Development and held in Washington DC on 3 February. “I have to be very patient. I call it strategic patience,” she continued, according to a report in the Washington Trade Daily on 4 February. Ms Okonjo-Iweala said that she understands that the new US President needs time to “settle down a bit.” She sounded positive about the eventual outcome, suggesting that “I think the situation is trending positive, but I think they will need the time to make decisions.” The former Nigerian finance minister’s prospects for being appointed as the WTO’s Director-General seem to have substantially brightened after the Biden administration took office a fortnight ago, said people familiar with the development. Apparently, Ms Okonjo-Iweala has maintained close proximity with the ruling Democratic Party in the US, said a person, who asked not to be quoted. The Trump administration had blocked her appointment on grounds that she lacked experience in global trade. Instead, the former US Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, pressed for the appointment of the Korean trade minister Ms Yoo Myung-hee on grounds that she possessed substantial experience in global trade for almost 25 years (see SUNS #9222 dated 30 October 2020). The WTO’s General Council (GC) chair, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, had cancelled a special GC meeting on the appointment of Ms Okonjo-Iweala that he had scheduled for 9 November last year. Ambassador Walker had informed trade ministers at a virtual informal ministerial meeting hosted by Swiss President and trade minister Mr Guy Parmelin on 29 January that he is currently holding consultations with members on the issue of the appointment of the DG (see SUNS #9276 dated 2 February 2021). After re-joining the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the World Health Organization through the issuance of executive orders in his first week in office, President Biden is yet to take a stand on several issues concerning the WTO, including its two-stage dispute settlement system which has been paralysed by the Trump administration. Trump’s chief trade policy strategist Ambassador Robert Lighthizer blocked appointments to the Appellate Body (making it non-functional) and took recourse to unilateral actions on various issues in total disregard of the WTO rules. It remains to be seen whether the new Biden administration will continue with Ambassador Lighthizer’s initiatives to undermine the two-stage dispute settlement system, as well as introduce differentiation/graduation of developing countries for availing of special and differential treatment, punitive transparency and notification requirements, and so-called market-based reforms among others. At the recently convened informal trade ministerial meeting on 29 January, trade ministers called for the urgent appointment of the new director-general to navigate the WTO out of its current existential crisis. The US said that the Biden administration is considering the appointment of the DG along with other issues, suggesting that it will announce its decision soon. At the informal ministerial meeting, South Africa’s senior trade official, Mr. Xavier Carim, said that for his President Cyril Ramaphosa, who currently chairs the African Union, the appointment of Ms Okonjo-Iweala is a top priority.
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