WTO gets new Director General

Subject: International Organizations

Context: New DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iwewala, a Nigerian-American economist, took over the charge of WTO.

Concept:

She is the first woman chief of the WTO. She is also the first African to hold the office of WTO as its director-general.

About WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
The WTO started functioning on 1 January 1995 as the successor body of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was in place since 1948.
WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments are the driver of WTO-based framework.
All major decisions are made by the WTO’s member governments: either by ministers (who usually meet at least every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).
The WTO’s top decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference (usually takes place every two years).
Below this is the General Council (day to day decision making body) and various other councils and committees.
The WTO has over 164 members representing 98 per cent of world trade.
Ordinarily, decisions are made by consensus in the WTO. Most recent member is Afghanistan (2016).
Last ministerial conference was in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2017 and is supposed to be held in Kazakhsthan in 2021.
WTO also has a Dispute Settlement Framework in place to resolve disputes between nations.