Page 12 - Doha Round News Today

India must embrace plurilateral talks on services × The WTO’s latest Joint Services Initiative is more flexible, which will benefit India and help us develop good regulatory practices Selection of the first lady Director-General of the WTO and the new Biden administration in the US will hopefully generate a new momentum at the world trade body. However, one area that seems to be generating momentum of its own, with an expected outcome at the Ministerial Conference later this year, is the Joi...

Former Deputy Directors-General Director-General Roberto Azevêdo appointed four Deputy Directors-General in September 2013: Yonov Frederick Agah of Nigeria, Karl Brauner of Germany, David Shark of the United States and Yi Xiaozhun of China. David Shark served until September 2017 while Frederick Agah, Karl Brauner and Yi Xiaozhun remained in office until March 2021. Alan Wolff of the United States served as Deputy Director-General from September 2017 to March 2021. Four Deputy Directors-...

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment as the director-general of the World Trade Organisation is a step closer to bridging the global gender parity gap. For decades, women, especially those originating from the global South, have fought for representation and inclusiveness in political, economic, and social spaces both on domestic and international levels. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) posits that gender diversity in public institutions is imperative conside...

There was more than a sense of a spring clean on the shores of Lake Geneva last week, as the World Trade Organization's new director general rolled up her sleeves to begin the long and challenging process of bringing new relevance to a body that has delivered little but disappointment. From the high-water mark of enthusiasm for multilateralism and international trade liberalisation, with the WTO's founding in 1995, the trade body's trajectory...

Hoping for a fairer deal A Nigerian heading the WTO has raised the developing world’s hopes India’s Permanent Representative to the WTO Brajendra Navnit made an interesting comment at the multilateral body’s General Council meeting last month where Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was elected as the Director General by consensus. He cited Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman exhorting people who are in doubt to think whether the action they are contemplating would help the poor and urged the new D...

The WTO has been progressively losing momentum, standing still while international trade moves ahead more rapidly than ever

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday finally got its new boss. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is highly qualified for the job as a former deputy of the World Bank, two-time finance minister of Nigeria, and outgoing chair of Gavi, the global alliance created to enable access to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines for the developing world. The new director general – the first

Where Nights Are Brighter Than Day   Nearly three million people live and work in Qatar, a peninsula shaped somewhat like a Dover Sole, that declared its independence in 1971. Its capital is Doha and perhaps many of you have heard of Doha apropos the famous Doha Round trade talks (the Doha Development Agenda) which were launched in November 2001. Coming two months after 9/11, the Agenda did not have a smooth ride into the new millennium and got stu...

Business/Trade Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the new Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. Yes, the first woman and first African to lead the global trade body. While the celebration over her appointment is ongoing, the reality is that the task ahead of her is challenging. Nosa James-Igbinadolor looks at the priorities of the new WTO chief With the apex leadership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) now empanelled with the selection of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the new director-gene...

Share That former Nigerian Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was on Monday formally confirmed as the new Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is no longer news, what many are not aware of is that one of the four deputy directors-general of the world body is also a Nigerian. In fact, the man was once the features writer and circulation manager of a newspaper outfit before he went ahead by dint of hard work to become the Deputy Director General of the world trade body. D...