By Samuel 

The International Trade Centre (ITC) has appointed its eighth Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton.

The new ED was appointed in July 2020, by the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s former Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi.

Her tenure, however, became effective on Thursday, October 1.

ITC is a joint Agency of the ITC and UNCAD, aimed at ensuring global integration through export.

It does so by improving the performance of trade and investment support institutions for the benefit of SMEs.

Speaking on the new ED’s appointment, the WTO Deputy Director-General, Yonov Frederick Agah, praised the appointment, adding that the WTO and ITC will work in tandem to boost export and import opportunities.

He said, “Ms. Coke-Hamilton’s appointment is very welcome. The WTO looks forward to furthering the joint collaboration with ITC and UNCTAD to raise awareness of export and import opportunities among businesses in the developing world.

“This will help make trade more inclusive and improve people’s lives across the world.”

On his part, Kituyi noted that the trade facilitation would help countries recover from the setback suffered as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that UNCTAD will bolster its efforts to boost trade relationships, through its partnership with ITC.

AgroNigeria gathered that the new ED had contributed her quota to export promotion and commodities access to market as she previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency.

She also established the Women Empowered through Export (WeXport) platform to address the disadvantages women-owned firms experience in accessing markets.