Contrary to some media reports, a source in Zurich, Switzerland made it clear yesterday that the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has never threatened to resign from the WTO.
However, the source claimed that the first woman and the first African to head the WTO was frustrated at work.
When asked if the CEO threatened to resign from her appointment, the source, who pleaded anonymity, said “She did not threaten. She did express quite a lot of frustration. I will tell you … she is an extraordinary person but at a very difficult job.
“I do not think it is easy to explain to someone how difficult the job actually is. There are only a handful of people that sat in that seat. I have seen closely a lot of director generals and any time you think you have a difficult job, just think about the director-general of WTO.”
Okonjo-Iweala was also quoted to have told Bloomberg that: “I just got here, I’m enjoying what I am doing. It is a very exciting job and I am trying to have some success here.”
The lack of consensus on intellectual property rights that has hampered the transfer of technology to produce COVID-19 vaccines in third world countries, as well as problematic opposition to fishery subsidy, has fueled frustration in Okonjo-Iweala.
It was reported that the negotiating style in the WTO yesterday was marked by strong manipulation, but the source said that there is currently a need in the WTO to establish a convergence of views among members on the already agreed text on fishing subsidies.
“Nobody pointed to any proposal and said because of the things are going backwards. What they were saying is that any proposal at this stage that cannot lead to consensus is not healthy. We have text now. Putting things in there that will make it imbalanced is not helpful,” the source said.
The source added that Okonjo-Iweala told everyone that not having a consensus to complete the fishery subsidy negotiation will not be an option.
“It was a sobering assessment and she made a very interesting kind of metaphor when she talked about when she was a girl how her mother used to take her to the market to teach her how to haggle with the people in the market stalls. She said that at one point everybody realises that if the price remains too high the customer will walk away.
“She, therefore, said that negotiation like this is an art and not a science, warning that we need to be conscious of the point where if you push this person too far and he says what is the point and he walks away.
“That will bring about a very bad outcome, which means the process will break down and we will not get an outcome.”
