How Meghan Markle and WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Bonded During the Pandemic (Exclusive)

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, is opening up about her friendship with Meghan Markle following their joint appearance in Nigeria.

On May 11, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, 69, co-hosted a women's leadership panel alongside the Duchess of Sussex, 42, in Abuja. Approximately 50 leading women from various sectors of Nigerian society including politics, business, media, and culture, attended the session, which was moderated by Nigerian media mogul Mo Abudu, who heads Africa’s first global black entertainment lifestyle network.

Speaking to PEOPLE at the event, Okonjo-Iweala says: "I said to the Duchess when she was coming that we must have fun. The conversation was wonderful. I think the impression that people had of her is of a very warm, loving person. And you can see the way that the room reacted to her.”

Reflecting on Meghan’s participation, she adds, “Almost everybody in this room had one or two [educational] degrees to their name. You could see how she fit into the room very well. [Meghan’s] an intelligent, thoughtful person.”

During the pandemic, she, Meghan, and Harry forged a friendship. The couple's interest in vaccine distribution to underserved countries and ensuring children's access fostered several Zoom meetings dedicated to this cause.

"They really cared, so we had a number of Zoom meetings to discuss that subject. And then they wrote the piece about me in TIME, which was a surprise. It was lovely of them."

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala recognizes the pressure Meghan is under in the public eye: “She’s a role model for young women. She’s a woman who is not in an easy position, and people are looking to see how is she managing and navigating this. That’s one of the things she brings: inspiration. You can see in spite of that, she’s a cheerful, warm personality, and everybody in the room took to her.”

For her part, the Duchess of Sussex shared during the panel that she felt like she was visiting "my country" after discovering she is 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test.

She revealed that the first thing she did after finding out about her heritage was "call my mom because I wanted to know if she had any awareness of it."

"Being African-American, part of it is really not knowing so much about your lineage or background, where you come from specifically," she continued. "And it was exciting for both of us to discover more and understand what that really means.”

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Meghan added, "Never in a million years would I have understood it as much as I do now. It's been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of that discovery.”