Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is among five candidates that have qualified to contest the next stage for the election of a director-general for the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The WTO said this in a statement on Friday.
The five candidates were selected by member countries of the WTO. Only three were eliminated.
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The candidates that qualified include Yoo Myung-hee of the Republic of Korea, Amina C. Mohamed of Kenya, Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Liam Fox of the United Kingdom.
Jesus Seade Kuri of Mexico, Tudor Ulianovschi of Moldova and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh of Egypt all did not make it.
David Walker, the general council chair for the selection committee, said the second phase of consultations will begin on September 24 and end on October 6.
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During this time, members will be asked in the confidential consultations to express two preferences to the facilitators thus reducing the number of candidates from five to two.
The WTO said, “Following this process, Ambassador Walker will call another heads of delegations meeting at which the results will be announced to the WTO membership. The timetable for the third and final round of consultations will be announced at that time.”