Vowing Kenyan emerges as one of early WTO frontrunners.
Kenya’s candidate to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) top post is seeking support from Washington.
Amina Mohamed, one of the two reform-minded African female frontrunners, expressed liberal criticisms of the global body.
She disclosed to the media that there was a closed-door vetting session last week which went “really well” while outlining her platform to steer WTO out of crises from global trade tensions and rising protectionism to a COVID-induced dive in business.
Delegates say Amina, a 58-year-old minister and former WTO chair, is one of the preferred candidates aside Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to replace Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo as director general, although weeks of campaigning lie ahead.
The WTO has never been led by a woman or an African.
“The rulebook needs to be upgraded because of the concerns that are being expressed about the rules not being fit for purpose,”
she said, adding that resuming the top appeals court would be a priority and that she hoped this would be on the agenda of the next major WTO meeting in 2021.
The United States has paralysed the Appellate Body by blocking new judges.
Commenting on the U.S. position with the body, she said,
“those concerns that have been raised, they would not have been raised if they did not have solid reason to raise them.”
However, the U.S. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to her supporters, she is right for the job because she combines deep WTO knowledge with a drive to overhaul its 25-year-old rules.
“The difference between me and them is I have worked this system.”
However, they are worried about her competition and are hoping she wins over those African countries who have expressed support for Okonjo-Iweala.
Over the past week, countries have been hosting Geneva cocktail parties to showcase candidates.
The WTO eliminates them in batches, starting with those unlikely to win consensus from 164 members.
