World Trade Organization dropped three candidates from the race to be the next Director -General of the body .
It also plans to reduce the contestants to two final candidates in the coming weeks .
Nigeria ’s Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala still remained in the race , according to Bloomberg on Friday .
Okonjo -Iweala is a former finance minister in Nigeria and former Managing Director of the World Bank .
The Geneva- based WTO said Mexico ’s Jesus Seade , Egypt’s Hamid Mamdouh , and Moldova ’s Tudor Ulianovschi didn ’t secure enough support in a first of three rounds of voting .
“Their expertise and high professional and personal qualities are highly valued and respected by all members ,” WTO General Council Chairman , David Walker , said in a statement on Friday .
The second phase of consultations would begin on September 24 and run until October 6 after which the WTO would announce two final candidates .
The goal was to name a new leader by November 7 .
The vacancy arose when Brazilian director – general , Roberto Azevedo , decided to step down at the end of August , a year before his term was due to end .
The remaining contenders were all current or former ministers , something that trade officials had previously said was an important characteristic for a future Director -General.
They are Mohammad Maziad Al -Tuwaijri , Saudi Arabia ’s former minister of economy and planning ; Liam Fox , the UK’s former secretary of state for international trade ; Yoo Myung- hee , South Korea ’s trade minister ; Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala ; and Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril , Kenya ’s former international trade minister .
The campaign to lead the WTO during the most turbulent period of its 25 -year existence was playing out against the backdrop of the pandemic, a worldwide recession , the US -China battle for trade supremacy, and the American presidential election .
The vacancy offered an opportunity for the US , the European Union , and other nations to reshape the organisation , whose mission of economic integration was under threat from protectionist policies around the globe .
Without reform , it risked being sidelined during the biggest economic crisis in a century .
