Vaccine inequity 'unconscionable': New WTO head

Vaccine inequity 'unconscionable': New WTO head

Three months after the Trump administration rejected her, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization.

Gavino Garay reports.

"I'm very proud to be the first African, I'm proud to be the first woman." Former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is making history.

She received unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization.

And her appointment comes three months after her bid for the job was rejected by the last U.S. President.

In his push to reshape global trade to better benefit the U.S., Trump tried to undercut the WTO and partially paralyzed it by blocking appointments to its top appeals body.

Now, without Trump, Okonjo-Iweala has her work cut out for her.

In an interview with Reuters, she said her top priority would be to do more to address the COVID-19 pandemic, calling the disparities in vaccine rates between rich and poor countries "unconscionable." "Maybe at the end of the year that we come to some solutions as to how the WTO can help make vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics accessible in an equitable and affordable fashion to all countries, particularly to poor countries, because right now we are lacking equitable access." She also said that her priorities were aligned with Washington's, and thanked the Biden administration for it's "confidence." She said her pride in being the first woman and the first African for the job quote "doesn't help" if you can't deliver, telling Reuters she's focused on trying to achieve results.

"I want to make sure that people remember my continent producing the first leader of the WTO that made a difference."