WTO: I Cannot Afford To Fail, Says Okonjo Iweala

WTO I Would Have No excuse For Failure – Okonjo Iweala
Dr. Okonjo Iweala
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Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday reiterated that she has no excuse not to perform as the new Director-General, World Trade Organisation, WTO.

She was appointed DG, WTO on Monday as the first woman and African to hold that prestigious position.

Okonjo-Ikweala, in an interview on Arise TV, which was monitored by our correspondent said she was proud for Africa, proud to be Nigerian, and proud of women.

She noted that all she needs to do now is to create other pathways for other African women by ensuring that she performs creditably in her current role.

Read Also: We Need Okonjo-Iweala In WTO – Trade Unions

Okonjo-Iweala stated that multilateral economic organizations needed to have women, saying that she had actually just published a book with the former Prime Minister of Australia about leadership, talking about the fact that there is a dearth of women at the top even though a lot of progress had been made at a slower pace.

She said she first opened the door when she became finance minister under former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, adding that since she did a good job, three more women have headed the finance ministry.

‘Similarly, here for the WTO, this is a very important multilateral. In the 73 years of the GATT –General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which turned into the WTO, there have not been any women.

‘With this opening, I hope I will do a good job which I will very much focus on doing. Women will have the door open and Africans will have the door open and that is really an important thing,‘ she stated.

She said she was at WTO to serve all members, stressing that delivering a result was not just about delivering for her continent or developing countries, but about delivering for the entire membership as WTO is a multilateral organisation and she concluded by promising to do her best and nothing short of it.

 

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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