Will Kenya’s Amina Mohamed be the WTO’s first African leader?
Just weeks after current World Trade Organisation Director General Roberto Azevêdo announced his abrupt resignation, Kenyan diplomat and minister Amina Mohamed is among the top candidates to replace him.
Azevedo’s decision to leave the global position this August, instead of August 2021, has been followed by intense lobbying for the position, even while it comes with the complexities of a trade war and a pandemic.
The makings of the right leader?
“We need someone with the right experience, someone who is committed to the multilateral system…but also has the political stature to be an effective facilitatorand a consensus-builder, said Amina Mohamed in a recent interview with the Financial Times. “If that person happens to be African, or happens to be a woman, I think it will be so much better,” she added. “It is important to be inclusive and show that the membership knows that every part of the globe can make a positive contribution to the running of the WTO.”
READ MORE African countries come to the WTO prepared – Arancha González
Born in Kakamega, Kenya, to an ethnic Somali family in October 1961, Amina Mohamed had a long career as a diplomat before serving as minister of foreign affairs, education, and sports in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet since 2013.
After a legal education at the University of Kiev, Mohamed joined the Kenyan government as a legal officer in 1985. She spent the next decade and a half in the ranks of the Kenya’s diplomatic posts in Geneva and the UN security council.
She was the first woman to chair WTO’s General Council in 2005.
Just weeks after current World Trade Organisation Director General Roberto Azevêdo announced his abrupt resignation, Kenyan diplomat and minister Amina Mohamed is among the top candidates to replace him.
Azevedo’s decision to leave the global position this August, instead of August 2021, has been followed by intense lobbying for the position, even while it comes with the complexities of a trade war and a pandemic.
The makings of the right leader?
“We need someone with the right experience, someone who is committed to the multilateral system…but also has the political stature to be an effective facilitatorand a consensus-builder, said Amina Mohamed in a recent interview with the Financial Times. “If that person happens to be African, or happens to be a woman, I think it will be so much better,” she added. “It is important to be inclusive and show that the membership knows that every part of the globe can make a positive contribution to the running of the WTO.”
READ MORE African countries come to the WTO prepared – Arancha González
Born in Kakamega, Kenya, to an ethnic Somali family in October 1961, Amina Mohamed had a long career as a diplomat before serving as minister of foreign affairs, education, and sports in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet since 2013.
After a legal education at the University of Kiev, Mohamed joined the Kenyan government as a legal officer in 1985. She spent the next decade and a half in the ranks of the Kenya’s diplomatic posts in Geneva and the UN security council.
Between 2000 and 2006, she served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Kenya diplomatic Mission in Geneva, and chaired the African Group in the WTO’s Human Rights Commission.
She was the first woman to chair WTO’s General Council in 2005.