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Ngozi Okonjo and Yoo Myung-hee are both in the running for leadership in the WTO
And then there were two.
The selection of a new Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is entering the final phase.
The last two – from a first list of eight candidates – are Nigeria’s former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo and South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee.
Both are female, which means that it will be the first time a woman has accepted the job if members of the WTO can band together around her in the final selection phase.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala and Ms. Yoo both have political and international experience and both were students at American universities.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, who is also a US national, served two terms as Treasury Secretary and a brief period as Secretary of State in Nigeria.
She spent a large part of her career as an economist at the World Bank. She eventually rose to the position of managing director, who essentially took over command of the institution. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the top job at the bank.
She is currently the chairman of the Gavi international vaccine alliance.
She has not delved into the details of trade policy like some other candidates. However, due to her work as a development economist and finance minister, she often had to deal with international trade.
She describes trading as a “mission and passion”.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala would be the first African woman to become Director General of the WTO.
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Ms. Yoo is much more of a retail specialist.
Her statement to the WTO General Council hinted at literal life in the region – she said she was born the same year South Korea signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which became one of the key elements of WTO rulebook .
She started her career in retail in 1995 when the WTO was born.
She was involved in some of South Korea’s major trade negotiations during this period, including with China and the United States. She emphasizes her “deep knowledge and insight into the details of various areas of trade agreements”.
Under stress
Both candidates were keen to point out their ability to bring sides together in negotiations.
The successful candidate must make extensive use of this ability.
It is important to remember that a WTO Director General can only make progress if he can get member countries on board.
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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shake hands, but China and the US are embroiled in a bitter trade dispute
It has been said that the DG has no executive power; that they are more like a butler telling member countries that dinner is being served.
But the WTO is an organization that is under stress. Two of the world’s largest trading powers – China and the US – are embroiled in bitter trade disputes.
The US has some significant concerns about the WTO. Many of them date before President Trump, but his administration has taken a less collaborative approach to pursuing them.
The US has undermined the WTO’s ability to perform one of its main functions – the settlement of trade disputes between member countries.
It has refused to allow the appeal panel to appoint new members, effectively judges. This reflects US concern that the panel’s judgments went beyond WTO rules. The US bloc made it impossible for him to accept new appeals.
This does not mean that the dispute settlement system is not working at all, but it is seriously affected.
In terms of diversity, the WTO appears to be breaking new ground. It will almost certainly be the first time that there will be a woman as General Manager.
The regional representation could also break new ground if the African candidate gets the job – there was previously an Asian general director from Thailand.
If everything goes according to plan, we’ll know who it is in early November.
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