What the future holds for world trade, according to 8 global leaders

Submitted by admin on Sat, 02/20/2021 - 05:34
  • Her appointment comes amid uncertainty surrounding the economic impact of COVID-19 variants.
  • The international trade system was under the microscope at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda week.
  • Here are eight key quotes from world leaders and experts on how to make the system more sustainable and resilient.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has made history – becoming the first woman and the first African ever to hold the post of director-general of the World Trade Organization.

The former minister of finance in Nigeria was a development economist at the World Bank for 25 years, and chaired the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-leads the COVAX facility to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Her appointment comes after a year that has rocked international trade. In October, the WTO forecast a 9.2% decline in the volume of world merchandise trade for 2020, with a 7.2% rise in 2021. But it warned the estimates were “subject to an unusually high degree of uncertainty” as they depended on government measures to control the pandemic...

This was excerpted from a 16 February 2021 article by the World Economic Forum.