admin
Sitshengisiwe
Ndlovu
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed the WTO director general with effect from March 1, 2021 to August 31, 2025. She becomes the organisation’s seventh director general since its inception.
Okonjo-Iweala has also made history by being the first African and the first woman to be at the helm of the WTO.
During a press conference briefing organised by the Reuters, Okonjo-Iweala articulated how she intends to steer forward the WTO organisation. As a former politician who has been a cabinet Minister twice, Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged the salient issues within the WTO that pointed to lack of trust among WTO members, lack of trust between developed and developing countries, nationalism, weak ineffective Dispute Settlement Mechanism, and stagnation of the organisation.
Okonjo-Iweala has promised to effect “deep and wide ranging reforms” that will reflect a progressive inclusive WTO. She commented on the complexity of the issues hounding the WTO as daunting and would require consensus from the Ministerial Council. The need for reform has been unanimously agreed upon, however, the type of reform required needs further deliberation.
Twice a former Minister of Finance in Nigeria, who courageously revoked fuel subsidies Okonjo-Iweala will undoubtedly shake the WTO for the better more so as she has accurately diagnosed the malady of the organisation.
In her list of priorities when she assumes office Okonjo-Iweala will seek to ensure that the WTO is an inclusive organisation that recognises the role of MSMEs at economy engine drivers globally.
The debate on the absence of MSMEs in international trade started in 2017, within the WTO. The world unanimously acknowledges the role of MSMES in economies although the challenges faced by these entities are not generic. Challenges faced by MSMEs in developed countries are different from challenges faced by less developed countries. Most of these challenges constitute barriers to international trade.
The definition of what constitute an MSME varies across countries and continents, however what is encouraging is that their role in any economy cannot be unnoticed.
It is not surprising that, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 27 as MSME Day globally.
The WTO MSMEs Group has been lobbying for specific inclusion covering MSMEs in WTO agreements, inclusion of MSMEs in the WTO Integrated Data base and rules on e-commerce that should enable MSMEs amongst a host of recommendations.
The challenge of MSMEs in Africa is that most of the MSMEs are not registered. According to the Africa Development Bank 84 percent of MSMEs are not registered.
The Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI) is an international accepted system that provides companies with a unique profile comprising 20 digits.
This profile enables financial institutions with authentic data through.
This information becomes easy to access and in turn easy provision of financial assistance to small companies. Registration of the business is therefore an important initial step
The WTO director general faces the task of concluding the MSMEs debate and adopting concrete decisions that will enable MSME participation on the international arena during the MC12.
The MSMEs in Africa should be registered first within the domestic front thereby facilitating recognition within the WTO as part of the data base. The process is not as simple, however, it suffices to underline the merits of formal registration of businesses. More so due to the fact that cross border payments at international level can only be possible with registered institutions.
The International Labour Organisation in its Covid-19 report in 2020 revealed that 70 percent of employment in the world is created by MSMEs and their contribution to GDP stands at 50 percent. Okonjo-Iweala is therefore on point when she makes the MSMEs part of her priority list.
On the backdrop of the foregoing it is reasonable to anticipate MSMEs participation in international trade through deep inclusive reform hinged on “The principles of stability, predictability, non-discrimination, fairness, transparency — these are all the important principles on which the WTO and the world trading system was founded,” as Okonjo-Iweala told The Africa Report last year.
Sitshengisiwe Ndlovu president of OWITZIMBABWE: MBA/UNCTAD: Trade and Gender Linkages/ IAC Dip/Cert: Trade in Services and SDGs: Robert Schuman Center of Advanced Studies/IDEPCert: Making the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Work. She writes in her personal capacity. For more on trade matters visit her blog on website: owitzimbabwe.org.
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