WTO: Okonjo-iweala Appoints 2 Women As Deputy DGs For The First Time Ever

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has appointed four WTO Deputy Directors-General

APPOINTMENT OF FOUR NEW DEPUTY-DIRECTORS-GENERAL

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of four new Deputy Directors-General (DDGs) at the WTO. It is the first time in the history of our Organization that half of the DDGs are
women.

This underscores my commitment to strengthening our Organisation with talented leaders whilst at the same time achieving gender balance in senior positions. I look forward to welcoming them to the WTO.

Ms Angela Ellard (The United States)

Ms Angela Paolini Ellard has a distinguished career of service working at the US Congress as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel and Staff Director. She is internationally recognised as an expert on trade and international economic policy, negotiating trade agreements and supporting multilateral solutions as part of an effective trade and development policy.

Ms Ellard has negotiated and delivered significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes and legislation for well over 25 years with Members of U.S. Congress and Senior Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton Administration officials. Ms Ellard also worked as a lawyer in the private sector, working on trade litigation and strategy, policy and legislative issues.

Associate Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Washington, 1986-1990, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Washington, 1990-1995. Trade counsel, subcommittee on trade United States House Ways and Means Committee, 1995-2007, staff director, counsel, subcommittee on trade, 1998-2007, Republican chief trade counsel, since 2007.

Ms Ellard obtained her Juris Doctor, cum laude from Tulane University School of Law in 1986. She holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy also from Tulane University (1983) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcomb College of Tulane University, summa cum laude in 1982.

Ms Ellard (born March 19, 1961) is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a frequent lecturer at law for graduate, undergraduate classes and has published articles on trade law and policy. She is a recipient of the Harry S. Truman Scholar award in 1981.

Ms Anabel González (Costa Rica)
Anabel González (born August 22, 1963) is a Global Expert and Practitioner on Trade and Development. She was Senior Director of the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice from July 2014-December 2017 where she led a team of 500 people to design and implement the World Bank Group’s global and country agenda in the areas of trade, investment climate, competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Previously, she served as Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade (2010-14) during which time she led Costa Rica’s efforts to join the OECD, negotiated, approved, and implemented six major free trade agreements, & implemented investment climate enhancement policies that contributed to attracting over 140 new investment projects.

She also had a lead role in Costa Rica’s Competitiveness and Innovation Council. During her more than 15 years of service with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, she held various positions including Director General for International Trade Negotiations (1990-97), Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade (1998-2001) and Ambassador-Chief Negotiator (2003-04).

She also served as Director of Costa Rica’s Investment Promotion Agency (2001-02), international consultant (1997-1998; 2004-2006), Director to the Agriculture and Commodities Division of the World Trade Organization (2006-09), and Senior International Consultant on Trade and Investment at the Inter-American Development Bank (2009-10).

Anabel is a member of the World Economic Forum Future Council on Trade and Investment (2016-18), after serving as chair of the Global Agenda Council on Competitiveness (2014-16) and Chair of the Council on Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (2012-14). She is currently a member of the World Trade Symposium’s World Trade Board.

She has lectured in over 50 countries and written on many trade and competitiveness issues.

Anabel Gonzalez is non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a World Bank consultant on trade and investment. She is also the host of the virtual event series Trade Winds. She has a law degree from the University of Costa Rica and a Master of laws degree from Georgetown University.

Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam (France)
Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam has held senior management positions in the French Government on trade, most recently as Permanent Representative of France to the WTO.

He has also held a number of senior positions in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the French Treasury. He has also served as Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. He has accumulated a deep and practical knowledge of government practices on trade as well as being familiar with
high-level dialogues on trade and international economic operations.

He Chaired the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment in 2019.

He has published a number of articles on trade-related issues, in particular when serving as Senior Research Fellow on International Trade at the French Institute for International Relations (IFPRI).

Ambassador Paugam graduated from ENA in Paris and obtained degrees in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science in Aix-en-Provence and in Law from the Faculty of Law Aix-Marseille III.

Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang (China PR)
Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang is currently serving as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Commerce of China. He has long and extensive experience on WTO issues, international negotiations, and policy research.

Ambassador Zhang served until recently as China’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and previously as Deputy Permanent Representative. He has had an extensive career of more than 30 years in international trade, serving as Director of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; as Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce; and as Director General of the Department of Policy Research of the Ministry of Commerce.

Ambassador Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in Law, a Master’s degree in International Relations and a PhD in International Politics from Peking University.