The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has praised football’s ability to bring people together during a question-and-answer session on the opening day of the WTO Public Forum alongside the FIFA President Gianni Infantino, The Nation reports.
The encounter, at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, took place after FIFA and the WTO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) where they agreed to look at ways of using football to promote economic inclusion, particularly in developing countries.
“At a time where global solidarity is fragile and there is a lot of tension, to find something that brings global solidarity, that can unify us across colour, across race, across every divide, regions – it’s pretty amazing,” the WTO Director-General said. “Everybody gets excited at football. It’s the ability to build this solidarity that is so fascinating to me.”
She said that the WTO had to “think outside the box” in the current economic and political climate and, after a previous meeting with the FIFA President, she began to think about ways in which football’s power could be harnessed to bring benefits and opportunities to WTO members.
