Sports Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed was endorsed by the East African Community (EAC) for the Director General post of the World Trade Organisation.
The Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, Vincent Biruta on Sunday, October 4, disclosed their preferable candidate through a letter.
“I would like to inform you that Ambassador Amina C. Mohamed is endorsed as the candidate of the East African Community to the post of Director General of the World Trade Organisation,” Biruta wrote to the counterparts in Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.
The endorsement, announced on Sunday, comes two days before the global trade regulator reveals the two final contenders narrowed down from 164 members.
The voting began on September 24 and will end on October 6. The post of the Director-General will be appointed via consensus.
Amina Mohamed, the first woman to chair the WTO’s General Council in 2005, is among the five candidates to be nominated alongside other African counterparts. In its 25-year history, no female or African has held the top position in the World Trade Organisation.
Biruta stated that Ms Amina received favourable responses from all member sates of the EAC.
“Reference is made to the favourable responses received from all states of the East African Community on the request to support the candidature of the Republic of Kenya of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation,” read part of the statement from Biruta.
On August 31, Brazil’s Robert Azevedo, stepped down from the post after seven years at the helm of the Geneva-based body. This came at a time of a deep downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Amina has promised to revamp the trade dispute system of the organization which she stated has had limited success for a quarter of a century.
“The WTO was already in difficulties before Covid-19 struck. Its negotiating functions had faltered, with only limited success in the last 25 years despite the launch of the Doha round of negotiations at the
beginning of the century.
“Tensions have increased and the dispute settlement system has been compromised. There’s widespread acknowledgement among WTO members that the WTO is in urgent need of reforms, “ said Amina while presenting her agenda at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
