Agency reports
The World Trade Organisation has postponed a meeting where members are expected to pick a new Director-General after the United States blocked the favoured candidate, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The WTO earlier announced that the meeting would hold next week.
But a communication seen by AFP showed that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely.
“It has come to my attention that for reasons including the health situation and current events, delegations will not be in a position to take a formal decision on 9 November,” the head of the selection committee told member states.
“I am therefore postponing this meeting until further notice during which period I will continue to undertake consultations with delegations,” he added.
The US said it is supporting South Korean trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, to become the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation because she is a “trade expert”.
Okonjo-Iweala had while addressing the WTO in July explained that she is a trade expert.
She said, “I am a development economist and you cannot do that without looking at trade. Trade is a central part of development. So, I have been doing it. My whole career at the World Bank, I was working on trade policy reform in middle and low-income countries at the bank.
