Connect with us

News

WTO postpones meeting on selection of director-general indefinitely

Published

on

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has postponed a meeting where members are expected to pick a new director-general for the organization.

The decision to postpone the meeting followed the United States rejection of the favoured candidate, Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The WTO’s meeting was initially slated to hold next week.

But the organization said in a statement on Friday that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely.

“It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November.

READ ALSO: Confident Okonjo-Iweala unperturbed by US opposition in quest for WTO’s top job

“I am therefore postponing this meeting until further notice during which period I will continue to undertake consultations with delegations,” the statement quoted the head of the selection committee as saying to member states.

The US had last month opposed Okonjo-Iweala as the consensus candidate to fill the post vacated by Brazilian diplomat, Roberto Avezedo, in August.

Washington said it was supporting South Korean trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, to become the Director-General of the WTO because she is a “trade expert.”

But the European Union and WTO’s ambassadors had backed Okonjo-Iweala for the position.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now