Presidential Lecture: H.E. Macky Sall, President of Senegal

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala took office as WTO Director-General on 1 March 2021. She is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 40 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. She was Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2016 – 2020), the African Risk Capacity (2014 – 2020) and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard Ltd. and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as an African Union COVID-19 Special Envoy, as well as WHO COVID-19 Special Envoy in 2020. She was one of the founders of the COVAX Facility designed to get affordable vaccines to developing countries. Dr Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s first female and longest serving Finance Minister (7 years). She was also Nigeria's first female Foreign Minister. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations. In 2021 Time magazine named Dr Okonjo-Iweala to its list of the world's 100 most influential people. She is the recipient of 15 Honorary Doctorate Degrees from universities including Yale, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, and Trinity College Dublin.

Prior to her current position, Ambassador Molokomme she served for 11 years as the first female Attorney General of the Republic of Botswana, following a period as a Judge of the High Court of Botswana. Holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Botswana and Swaziland, Masters in Law from Yale Law School, and PhD in Law from Leiden University. She also attained a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration, and is a Fellow of the CIARB. She is the recipient of a number of honors and awards, including the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service for Exceptional service to Botswana. She is a member of the Nuremberg Advisory Council; Justice Rapid Response and the International Gender Champions Global Board. She is the 2022 Chairperson of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and co-Chair (with Iceland and El Salvador) of the Informal Working Group on Women and Trade.