The EU will will be supporting Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister to take over as the director-general of the World Trade Organization.
EU Ambassadors from 27 member states made the confirmation on Monday that Okonjo-Iweala was their candidate of choice
This followed discussions among EU leaders during their summit in Brussels last week.
Her only remaining challenger in the last round of voting is South Korea’s trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee.
Media reports suggest that Okonjo-Iweala had been backed by France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, among others.
Ms. Yoo found considerable support among EU governments in central and eastern Europe, including the Baltic states.
Latvia and Hungary — the last two holdout countries favouring Ms Yoo — agreed to switch and join the majority position at a last minute a special meeting convened at 6pm.