The World Trade Organisation's (WTO) new chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has lost little time in signalling her priorities. In her first week after taking office last Monday, she has supported a call by Singapore, New Zealand and others to do away with restrictions choking supply chains for medical goods, equipment and other pandemic-related products. Not many see the WTO as a crucial spoke in the battle against Covid-19, but Dr Okonjo-Iweala has tapped her experience as former chair of the Gavi vaccine alliance to bolster the case against vaccine nationalism. Although she did not endorse calls for a waiver of intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines - a contested concept - the former Nigerian finance minister backs an interim solution that asks pharmaceutical firms to grant more licences in developing countries. She has also indicated a role for the WTO in addressing climate change.

She has advocated carbon tax, adopted so far by only a few dozen nations including Singapore, as a means of boosting government revenues while also nudging climate-responsive behaviour. She has asked countries to be mindful of the carbon content of traded goods but also warned against climate-related trade restrictions against countries that need help with transitioning to green technologies. An agreement on fisheries she is pushing for might become the WTO's most significant achievement more than 20 years after it last concluded a round of trade negotiations successfully. To prevent overfishing, the pact will urge nations to tackle fishery subsidies.