Profile Of The Female Candidates Shortlisted For WTO D-G Position

The nomination process for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has finally closed, and all the candidates for the WTO top job are now known.

There are eight candidates in the race; three from Africa, two from Europe, one from the Middle-East, one from North America, and one from Asia.

In the race are three women — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohammed and Yoo Myung-hee — and four men.

If any of the women win, she would become the first female WTO DG since the organization was set up 25 years ago.

Here is a biography of three female candidates as reviewed by TheCable and here is how they stand:

1.YOO MYUNG-HEE

COUNTRY	KOREA
Age	53
Occupation	Lawyer, politician
Current job	Minister of trade
Education	Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School, and masters in public policy from Seoul National University
Previous international jobs	None
Previous local jobs	Presidential spokesperson; deputy minister for FTA negotiation; First Secretary (2007-2008) and then Counsellor (2009-2010), Korean Embassy in China; Director-General for Bureau of Trade Policy
Current international jobs	None
Awards	N/A
Selling point	Experience negotiating trade at the highest level of governance in and out of the WTO
WTO experience	None
Quotable quote	“South Korea can become a bridge, connecting developing countries and advanced countries”
Quick fact	She is regarded as the “devil’s advocate” in Korea, due to her aggressive trade negotiations, and she is the first woman to become minister of trade in Korea — after 70 years of male domination.

2. AMINA MOHAMED JIBRIL

COUNTRY	KENYA
Age	58
Occupation	Lawyer, diplomat, and politician
Current Job	Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage, and Culture in Kenya
Education	LLM in International law from the University of Kiev, Ukraine and Postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the University of Oxford, UK.
Previous International Jobs	Chair of the International Organization for Migration, chair of the World Trade Organization’s General Council, assistant secretary-General of the UN and deputy executive director at UNEP.
Previous local Jobs	Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Cabinet Secretary for Education
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (Cav.O.S.S.I.); Life Member of the Red Cross Society; Honorary Doctorate from KCA University; Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2017)
Selling point	Experience at the highest level of the WTO
WTO Experience	She ran for the office of the DG in 2013 but lost to Roberto Azevedo, the current DG
Controversy	Ran against the AU candidate for the WTO top job in 2013 — both lost
Quotable quote	“The best years of this organisation (WTO) are not in the past, they are in its future; there is always a golden past, but the best is never in the past”
Fun fact	She speaks Somali, English, Russian, Swahili and has a working knowledge of French

3. NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA

COUNTRY	NIGERIA
Age	65
Occupation	Development economist, diplomat
Current job	Chair, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Education	Bachelor’s in economics from Harvard University and PhD in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Honourary degrees from over a dozen universities worldwide.
Previous international jobs	MD of the World Bank; co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation; UN Secretary General’s high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda
Previous local Jobs	Two-time minister of finance in Nigeria; minister of foreign affairs. The first female to take up both jobs.
Current International Jobs	Board member at Twitter, Standard Chartered Bank, and African Risk Capacity; co-Chair of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate; member Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) international advisory board; IMF external advisory board; AU special envoy.
Awards	Global Finance Minister of the Year 2005 by Euromoney; Top 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2014 by TIME Magazine, 2014; Top 100 Global Thinkers 2011, 2012 by Foreign Policy; the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes Magazine 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014; National honours from Nigeria, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire.
Selling point	Experience at the highest level of the World Bank, and easily one of Africa’s most trusted technocrats
WTO Experience	None
Quotable quote	“The best way to help Africans today is to help them to stand on their own feet. And the best way to do that is by helping create jobs.”
Quick fact	Kidnapper who held her mother captive requested her resignation as minister of finance for her role in seeking transparency with fuel subsidy payment in Nigeria. She refused.