Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala receives the Honorary Award of the German Sustainability Award for her exceptional, inclusive leadership, through which she connects global trade, sustainable development, and social justice – demonstrating that economic rules can indeed be shaped for the future.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954, in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Nigeria) is an outstanding economist, development strategist, and institutional expert. She served twice as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, led globally significant reforms, and held senior leadership positions at the World Bank for many years. Since March 1, 2021, she has been the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – a role of strategic importance for global trade, sustainable development, and inclusive participation.
During her time as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, she introduced major reforms: she consistently pushed for transparency, fought against embezzlement, implemented a system to centralize government revenues, and eliminated “ghost workers” from payrolls – measures that strengthened fiscal discipline and increased governmental efficiency.

At the WTO, she uses her platform to rethink trade rules with an eye on climate protection, fair conditions for developing countries, and a sustainable economic order. She advocates for tariff structures that do not unintentionally favor fossil industries, for making environmental goods easier to trade, and for ensuring that poorer countries can participate in the global system.

She also demonstrated leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic by leveraging the WTO to support a more equitable global distribution of vaccines and emphasizing that trade policy and health policy must go hand in hand. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala stands for a new generation of global responsibility: she combines economic thinking with ethical clarity, statecraft with a spirit of reform, and institutional strength with an inclusive vision.