For the first time in the history of the World Trade Organization (WTO), two of the four Deputy-Directors General are women.
The Organisation’s Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced, on 4 May, the appointment of Anabel González (Costa Rica), Angela Ellard (United States), Jean-Marie Paugam (France) and Xiangchen Zhang (China) as Deputy-Directors General.
“This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organisation with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions”, said the Director-General.
The four appointees each have a long career in the trade sector. Angela Ellard has worked in the US Congress on trade issues for many years. Anabel González has been Trade Minister of Costa Rica, Jean-Marie Paugam has worked for the French government and at the WTO as a Permanent Representative and Xiangchen Zhang is Deputy Minister of Commerce of China and was until recently also a Permanent Representative at the WTO. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)