The Director General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was announced TIME Magazine’s most influential person in the world late Wednesday along with other influential world leaders.
Mrs Iweala, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister during the administrations of Goodluck Jonathan and Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was honored by Prince Harry and Meghan, both founders of Archewell Foundation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex penned an Opinion in the Magazine, explaining the work done by NOI at the helms of affairs at the World Trade Organization explained, “The fragility of our world right now cannot be overstated. Just over a quarter of the nearly 8 billion global population is fully vaccinated”, the article reads in parts.
For Harry and Meghan, “achieving vaccine equity is a global duty of compassion for one another” and their hope is that, with guidance by strong leaders like “Ngozi, we can get there soon”.
The five paragraph piece continued, “As the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organization, a 164-member group of nations that oversees trade across the world, Okonjo-Iweala took on the role of director-general this March at a watershed moment for our global health and well-being. Make no mistake, her job affects every person, family and community”.
“As we face a constant barrage of vaccine misinformation, bureaucratic slowdowns across both government and industry, and the rise of variants that underscore the urgency of the situation, Okonjo-Iweala has shown us that to end the pandemic, we must work together to equip every nation with equitable vaccine access. Our conversations with her have been as informative as they are energizing. This is partly because, despite the challenges, she knows how to get things done—even between those who don’t always agree—and does so with grace and a smile that warms the coldest of rooms.”
