Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

African women rise up in Forbes ‘Most Powerful Women’ rankings

MORE African women are joining and rising up the ranks of the world’s 100 most powerful women, according to Forbes, as they grow their influence in shaping the policies, products and political fights defining the globe. Nigeria’s former minister of finance, currently World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has moved the highest on the continent by four places from position 91 in 2022 to 87 in this year’s Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women" rankings. Okonjo-Iweala, the first African woman to lead the WTO, made it to the list for the seventh time in 2023 since her debut…

Mar

2022

By The African Mirror

WTO chief welcomes COVID shot patent plan, drugmakers balk

COVID-19

LUDWIG BURGER and PHILIP BLENKINSOP THE World Trade Organization (WTO) praised a provisional deal to waive patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines after more than a year of deadlock, though drugmakers said the move risked undermining the industry's ability to respond to future health crises. The United States, the European Union, India and South Africa agreed on Tuesday on key elements for a waiver. It now needs the backing of the 164 members of the WTO, which takes decisions based on consensus, so rejection by just one country could still block an accord. "This is a major step forward," WTO Director-General…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

The seven women breaking glass ceiling in Nigeria

NEWS

SETH ONYANGO, BIRD NEWSROOM IN corporate Nigeria, a shift appears to be underway as more financial institutions appoint woman corporate executives to head some of the country's top banks. Nigeria’s mainstream financial institutions are banking on women to lead the next chapter of growth in the sector, with more lenders appointing female chief executives. The move, which has seen more women take key banking roles in just the past week, positions Africa’s economic powerhouse as one of the bellwethers of gender equality on the continent’s financial services. Last week, Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank appointed Miriam Olusanya as its Managing Director/CEO,…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

IMF chief warns of ‘dangerous divergence’ recovery

COVID-19

THE head of the International Monetary Fund has warned of a "dangerous divergence" between wealthy and developing countries as they seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Kristalina Georgieva said that strong growth in wealthy countries like the United States was "good news" but developing countries were being held back by slow vaccination rates. "That is danger for the coherence of growth and it is also a danger for global stability and security," she told the Paris Peace Forum where the heads of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Bank also spoke. WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala similarly expressed concerns,…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine patent waiver will not be enough – WTO chief

COVID-19

PHILIP BLENKINSOP WAIVING intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines will not be enough to narrow the huge supply gap between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization said yesterday. South Africa and India have urged fellow WTO members to waive IP rights on vaccines to boost production. Poorer countries that make up half the world's population have received just 17% of doses, a situation the World Health Organization head has labelled "vaccine apartheid". U.S. President Joe Biden said last week he supported the waiver idea, but the European Union and other developed country opponents said it…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Use idle capacity to make vaccines’

COVID-19

THE world cannot act soon enough to put idle manufacturing capacity to work making COVID-19 vaccines to help redress a massive imbalance in global supply, the head of the World Trade Organization said yesterday. WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments was "both the moral and economic issue of our time". The World Health Organization said in April that of 700 million vaccines globally administered, only 0.2% had been in low-income countries. Okonjo-Iweala told a meeting of the 164-member WTO that those who had ordered more vaccines than they needed must share with others. Members…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

WTO chief lays out global action to increase vaccine access

COVID-19

THE head of the World Trade Organization laid out a series of actions yesterday for countries and drug makers to increase production of coronavirus vaccines and share them more widely and fairly. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became WTO director-general in March, called a closed-door meeting of producers, governments and others over inequitable access, with low-income countries administering just 0.2% of 700 million global doses. In her concluding remarks, Okonjo-Iweala said that concerns over cross-border supply chains, including export curbs and shortages of skilled personnel, had reinforced her view that the WTO must play a central role in the response to the…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa must expand vaccine production, leaders say

NEWS

ALEXANDER WINNING AFRICA must expand vaccine manufacturing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and future health emergencies, including by forging partnerships to boost expertise and investment, continental leaders and international health officials said yesterday. Africa has struggled to acquire coronavirus vaccines and imports the vast majority of its medicines and medical equipment, leaving it at the mercy of overseas supplies. Its mainly poor nations are falling behind in the global coronavirus vaccination race with under 13 million doses administered so far to the continent's 1.3 billion people, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said last week. World…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

WTO hikes 2021 trade growth forecast, but COVID-19 risks linger

BUSINESS

THE World Trade Organization slightly raised its growth forecast for global goods trade this year, but said the outlook was clouded by risks from the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines and the possible emergence of vaccine-resistant strains. WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a news conference on yesterday that vaccines had given the world a chance of stopping the disease and jump-starting the economy. "But this opportunity could be squandered if large numbers of countries and people do not have equal access to vaccines," she told a news conference. The WTO is forecasting merchandise trade will grow this year by 8.0% after…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

WTO DG “disappointed” in EU vaccine export restrictions

COVID-19

THE director-general of the World Trade Organization has expressed her disappointment in the European Union's export authorisation scheme for COVID-19 vaccines, saying that she was talking to them about this measure. "While we understand the politics of what they are doing - I have said openly I am disappointed, particularly in the fact that they extended it from March," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at a WTO online event, saying export restrictions must be temporary. Under the scheme, which is to be extended through June, companies must get an authorisation before exporting COVID-19 shots, and may have export requests denied if they…