Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed the new Director General of the The World Trade Organization.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former finance minister in Nigeria, becomes the first woman and the first African to lead the Geneva-based trade body.

“This is a very significant moment for the WTO,” said David Walker, Chair of the organization’s General Council. Walker, the organization’s New Zealand representative, led the nine-month selection process for a new director-general alongside Dacio Castillo from Honduras and Iceland’s Harald Aspelund.

Okonjo-Iweala said that a strong WTO was needed for the global economy to make a rapid recovery from the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I look forward to working with members to shape and implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again,” she said.

“Our organization faces many challenges, but working together we can collectively make the WTO stronger, more agile and better adapted to the realities of today.”