Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at a press conference. — AFP/VNA Photo

GENEVA — Ambassador Lê Thị Tuyết Mai, head of the Permanent Mission of Việt Nam to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international organisations, has said that Viet Nam together with ASEAN member states and other WTO members support and congratulate Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her election as WTO General Director.

Addressing a special session of the WTO General Council held online earlier, Ambassador Mai said Việt Nam will work closely with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and believed she has sufficient qualifications, especially leadership capacity, to steer the WTO amid present challenges to achieve the targets of the multilateral trade system and serve the interests of all of the organisation’ members.

At the event, Okonjo-Iweala expressed her hope to work with member states to shape and carry out policies to reboot the global economy which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When she takes office as the seventh WTO General Director on March 1, Okonjo-Iweala will become the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO.

She used to serve as Finance Minister of Nigeria and former Managing Director of the World Bank. As Chair of the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), she is also a global financial expert, economist, and an expert on international development with more than 30 years of working experience across the world. — VNS