The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the organisation must help facilitate the access of poor countries to Covid-19 vaccines.
The WTO can contribute more to solving the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, by helping to facilitate access to vaccines for poor countries, WTO Director-General said in statements.
Okonjo-Iweala vowed to ensure that the multilateral trading system and the rules of the WTO are "conducive to making medicines and medical supplies accessible to the countries that need it."
She also stressed the importance of ‘bridging the divide,’ such as the digital gap between developing and developed countries, in achieving a more sustainable and inclusive global recovery.
"I think this can be done in concert with other organisations such as the World Bank, regional development banks ... and with the IMF, to see what we can deliver to support in bridging this divide," she said.
The WTO needs wide-ranging reforms to reposition itself for the future, she added.
Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed the new chief of the WTO, becoming the first woman to ever lead the Organization and the first African citizen to take on the role.