Okonjo-Iweala starts work as WTO boss 

01 Mar Okonjo-Iweala starts work as WTO boss 

The new Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, started work this morning at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

She takes over the World Trade Organization today amid high expectations of a turnaround of the challenged Organisation

“The WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralysed and moribund,” the first woman and first African to ever lead the global trade body told AFP a day after her nomination last month.

The WTO was left adrift for seven months following the sudden departure of Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo last August, a year ahead of schedule.

Following a lengthy selection process, development economist Okonjo-Iweala, who spent 25 years at the World Bank, was finally anointed by the WTO’s 164 members on February 15.

While some observers voice hope that Okonjo-Iweala will inject much-needed energy, others stress she has little wiggle room to make dramatic change, given that WTO decisions are made by member states — and only when they can reach consensus.

One of her first tasks will be to nominate four new deputy directors to help recharge the organisation’s negotiating mechanisms.