Beijing is likely to favour an African candidate for the top job at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) as US-China trade tensions drive the body into dysfunction, according to an adviser to the Chinese government and observers.
(WTO) as US-China trade tensions drive the body into dysfunction, according to an adviser to the Chinese government and observers.
Of the eight nominees vying to replace Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo, who is stepping down as WTO director general a year early at the end of August, three are from Africa.
Egypt has nominated Hamid Mamdouh, a former diplomat and ex-WTO official who helped draft an agreement on trade in services during the Uruguay Round of negotiations. Nigeria has picked former foreign and finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala while Kenya has proposed former WTO General Council chairwoman Amina Mohamed. Mohamed, Kenya’s sports and culture minister, ran unsuccessfully for the WTO director general post in 2013.