Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala becomes first woman, African to lead WTO

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala formerly served as Nigeria’s finance minister and spent 25 years at the World Bank.

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday to head the leading international trade body as it seeks to resolve disagreements over how it decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs. Okonjo-Iweala, 66, was appointed director-general of the World Trade Organization by representatives of the 164 member countries, according to a statement from the body. She said in a statement that her first priority would be to quickly address the economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to “implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again.”