OECS Chairman, Dominica’s PM, Roosevelt Skerrit, pledges organization’s support for first woman and African WTO Director-General

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority, Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit, has formally congratulated the new WTO Director General giving the assurance that the OECS stands ready to assist  Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in discharging her duties as and when required.

On March 1, 2021, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala will become the first woman and the first African to be chosen as Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) .The WTO General Council selected  the former Nigerian finance minister by consensus and her term, which is renewable, will expire on 31 August 2025.

“Six OECS countries are founding Members of the WTO, a sign of our enduring commitment to the Multilateral Trading System (MTS),” prime minister Skerrit stated in his congratulatory note. “It is out of this commitment that we are looking forward to working with you to address certain specific and systemic concerns with a view to improving the MTS in a manner which delivers benefits for all.”

Director General of the OECS, Dr. Didacus Jules has also congratulated the WTO Director-General Designee and pledged commitment to the WTO’s mission and vision.

“We are especially proud of the fact that you are achieving two firsts – the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO. Please be assured of our commitment to the multilateral trading system. We look forward to working closely with you,” Dr. Jules said.

At the February 15th WTO Special General Council meeting where Okonjo-Iweala was selected, OECS Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, H.E Stephen Fevrier, pledged on behalf of the CARICOM group “our collective efforts and commitment to use the multilateral system to help address the economic and trade impacts of the [COVID-19] pandemic.”

Fevrier also expressed appreciation on behalf of CARICOM to the Government of Nigeria for advancing Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination stating, “her vast knowledge of the global political-economy coupled with her demonstrated commitment to finding solutions to some of the key development challenges of our time, will serve her and this institution well.”

He added that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment was of particular significance to the CARICOM Group as she has a longstanding relationship with the Caribbean Community and is regarded as a friend to CARICOM.

“Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has generously lent her considerable experience and support to our region through her leadership role on the CARICOM Commission on the Economy,” Fevrier said and reaffirmed the CARICOM Group’s “strong commitment to the multilateral trading system and looks forward to working the new Director General and her team.”

Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Nigeria’s finance minister, had a 25-year career at the World Bank, where she rose to the number-two position of managing director. She holds both US and Nigerian citizenship.

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11 Comments

  1. The Irony
    February 18, 2021

    I’m excited for Sista Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in this top post. Putting an African there shows how arrogant Western countries are, after they have carefully ‘prevented’ all manufacturing (even agriculture) in Africa to build their own countries; only taking the people’s raw materials out coffee, chocolate, precious metals used for computers, phones etc. to be manufactured in europe, in U.S outside Africa. There is great need for Dr. Iweala, Dr. Skerritt and the rest of us to view this short documentary titled – Why the west wants sub-Saharan Africa to stay poor. Please watch before we comment, then let the comments flow.
    https://youtu.be/d7KEp9wuFSE
    The full video is titled “Confessions of an economic hitman” we’ll all be better informed on what’s going on and what these people are doing to the rest of us. Fact is that our leaders are basically place-holders. DNO, nothing hurtful here pls post. Thx

    • JP
      February 18, 2021

      Why do people always claim Europeans are “taking” Africa’s raw material? The African governments themselves are involved & the people get paid, there is no “taking” or stealing involved. Bad business? Yes because those African politicians are corrupt but that’s nobody else’s fault but their own

      Also, Africans themselves also use “coffee, chocolate, precious metals used for computers, phones etc.“. Somebody’s got to make/source it, why not the people who’s country it originates from? If I wanted yam grown from Dominica, why would I get Mr. Smith from England to do the work for me, instead of Mr. Shillingford from Dominica?

      Africans get paid just for sourcing products that the rest of the world uses. That sounds like a win to me. The problem is corrupt politicians magically make the money appear in their own pockets instead of the governments

      • The Irony
        February 18, 2021

        Well, did you watch the video by this economist to help you post an informed comment?

      • No you didn't
        February 20, 2021

        @JP, who taught you the nonsense you just wrote? In this day and age with so much more information out there than your grand parents had, you still got that stuff in your head when even the BBC has lately been exposing Brit misinformation.

  2. Viewsexpressed
    February 17, 2021

    Skerrit out there to gain fame and pledging that Ngozi Iwale who is very much concerned for the Development of her country continues to abandon our aching poor Island’s development and is focusing on Africa just for fame, that he knows he will not get this platitudes from we Dominicans. Madam Ngozi has raised the profile and beauty of her country while Failed incompetent Skerrit and his failed questionable incompetent Labour government has reduced our Dominica’ and our people into begging and poverty, no wonder our nature Isle Dominica and it’s people are jobless, in poverty where Skerrit should have created jobs he’s promoting and giving cash to our suffering jobless people through the do called abusive “Red Clinic” where our poor people qué on the Fifth Floor to receive cash from Skerrit as if the money 💰 is his. We have an able Welfare Division, well managed by our professionals Welfare Officers and with Skerrit created a “Dubious Red Clinic” giving out our states cash for…

  3. Mostly reminders
    February 17, 2021

    Not a big deal, ..all controlled by Europe’s and the U.S need to keep us poor and keep the whole continent of Africa taken by force and devastated. Hopefully she is not planted there to be easily manipulated by a computer tech with loads of “money” to expand his reach and continue to achieve his goals of injecting, sterilizing young African girls in many more countries, so that they and their children’s children don’t bear children in this New World Order.

  4. Truth Be Told
    February 17, 2021

    Mr Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, you do realise that she is the Director General of the World Trade Organisation? What does Dominica trade sir? What is the value of Dominica’s exports? Imports are not negotiated at WTO level. Passports are not considered tradeable commodities by WTO. What is your relevance or Dominica’s where international trade is concerned? You killed the little Caribbean regional huckster trade that the poor in Dominica depended on and made an honest living in. Now is just merchants profiting on the people by importing everything, including plastic lettuce! Mr Prime Minister you have no shame! Time and time again you open your mouth and prove that you are living in coocoo land and unaware of the Dominican reality! You are a showman with no substance. We have Minister of Health but you have to handle the vaccine from India. We have Minister of Trade but you must be the one to talk on WTO. You are all show and no substance. Poor Dominica under you taking it…

    • RhondaG
      February 18, 2021

      What does Dominica trade you ask? Passports of course. And a laundry service for some of the holders. Sadly nothing else. The capabilities of our so called PM don’t go any further.

  5. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    February 17, 2021

    “The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization made up of 164 member countries that deals with the rules of trade between nations Its goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly and predictably as possible. “

    Note: Before I comment on the little corrupted wet black …. Roosevelt Skerrit let me focus the spotlight on criminal liar Donald Trump!

    As part of his broader attempts to renegotiate the United States’ global trade deals, Donald Trump when he was president threatened to withdraw from the WTO in August 2018, calling it a “disaster.” If the U.S. had moved to withdraw from the organization, trillions of dollars in global trade would have been disrupted.

    Now Roosevelt made the claim that these little corrupted …. like him will help this woman to perform her duties:
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!
    This man is so ignorant he fails to realize that with the exception of Trinidad none of the islands in the Caribbean region from Jamaica in the North to…

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      February 22, 2021

      Admin: if you did not print, or refuse to print the second part of my comments don’t you think that makes me look like an idiot?

      Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

      Well, I know I am an idiot, but I am not into sedition’s, nor contributes to libel and slander.

      As someone asks what does Dominica have to trade; I commented on that and question Roosevelt notion that he will help this lady who is  rather much better educated than him to conduct her business?

      I am not writing anything seditious nor anything that constitute a law suit, so why omit any part of my comments.

      If I suggest most of these politicians in the Caribbean are rats, that does not constitution libel and slander, I said it in a metaphoric term.

      No reputable  judge would sanction me with a guilty verdict for saying Roosevelt is a rat eh!

      Hahahahahahahahahahahahah!

      • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
        February 24, 2021

        “does not constitution libel”

        Actually, that should read: ‘ does not constitute libel nor slander’

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