…Cardoso says credibility crucial to winning global capital in new economic order

Global trade defied rising tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and mounting policy uncertainty to reach a record $34.7 trillion in 2025. However, Africa must move quickly to capitalise on a once-in-a-generation shift in global supply chains or risk losing a historic opportunity, said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), on Wednesday.

​Delivering the keynote address at the 7th Africa Emerging Markets Forum in Abuja ahead of a fireside chat with Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala argued that the world is not witnessing the end of globalisation. Instead, she described it as a profound restructuring as governments balance economic integration with strategic competition.

​”What we are seeing is not the end of globalisation, but its transformation from cooperative to competitive interdependence,” she said, describing the shift as one that strengthens, rather than weakens, the case for a rules-based global trading system.

​Resilience of the multilateral trading system
​Her remarks come at a time when trade has increasingly become entangled in geopolitical rivalry, with major economies imposing tariffs, restricting technology transfers, and seeking to reduce dependence on strategic rivals. Yet, she said, the global economy has proved far more resilient than many had predicted.

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​”The…