GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has told a meeting of the World Trade Organization on Wednesday that it does not back Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next WTO leader, despite cross-regional support for her, two sources at the meeting told Reuters.
The move could undermine the global trade body as it seeks to select a successor to director general Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down in August. A key group of WTO ambassadors had proposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next chief, but any such decision requires a consensus among the 164 WTO members, meaning any of them could block her appointment.
Reporting by Emma Farge; writing by Philip Blenkinsop
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