So far three WTO members – Nigeria, Egypt, and Mexico – have put forward candidates to succeed
Roberto Azevêdo
as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. In all likelihood there will be more before the nomination process closes on July 8. Today’s quote is from an article by the nominee from Nigeria,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
published by Foreign Affairs on April 30, 2020.
Armed at an early age with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from MIT, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala went on to an exceptional career, rising to the position of Managing Director, the number 2 slot, at the World Bank. She also served
twice as Nigeria’s minister of finance
and once as foreign minister, with major accomplishments in each position. Among her current responsibilities is that of chair of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Founded in 2000 as the successor to the Children’s Vaccine Initiative, Gavi is “a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization.”* The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a major contributor. Against that background, her Foreign Affairs article commands special attention.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala began her article with the assertion that:
[T]he world cannot fully emerge from its current state of novel coronavirus lockdown until a vaccine is found.
She went on to discuss some of the challenges associated with the development of such a vaccine and the equally daunting tasks of producing it and distributing it on a global scale. In doing so, she talked about issues from intellectual property rights to financing mechanism, with particular attention to a financing scheme developed by Gavi in connection with other vaccines. This is the Advanced Market Commitment. It is a specific program for a specific set of problems, and the reader is encouraged to consult Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’ s article for details. Our concern is with some of the more general comments in her article and with views which might influence her approach to the job of Director-General of the WTO. Arguing against agreements (or policies) that might restrict trade in the hoped-for COVID-19 vaccine(s), she wrote:
It is the duty of every government to put its citizens first, but during a pandemic this duty requires thinking and acting globally.
Today’s featured quote is from the final paragraph of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s article. Here it is in full:
A viable vaccine is still unlikely to be licensed for at least another 12 months. But some of the focus does now need to shift from the race to develop a vaccine to preparing for its arrival (including trying to find therapeutics until the vaccine is ready). In recent years, multilateralism and globalism have come under attack. The pandemic crisis is an opportunity to push societies to adapt and evolve from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism, mobilizing all contributors around a common goal: one world, protected. Because no one will be safe until everyone is safe.
