Field for Top WTO Cut Down as Three Candidates Depart

(Bloomberg) -- World Trade Organization members eliminated three candidates from the race to be the next director general of the trade body and plan to narrow the field to two final candidates in the coming weeks.

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,” said WTO General Council Chairman David Walker in a statement on Friday.

The second phase of consultations will begin on Sept. 24 and run until Oct. 6 after which the WTO will announce two final candidates. The goal is to name a new leader by Nov. 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 are 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 U.K.’s former secretary of state for international trade
• Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s trade minister
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister and former managing director of the World Bank
• 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 is playing out against the backdrop of the pandemic, a worldwide recession, the U.S.-China battle for trade supremacy and the American presidential election.

The vacancy offers an opportunity for the U.S., the European Union and other nations to reshape the organization, whose mission of economic integration is under threat from protectionist policies around the globe. Without reform, it risks being sidelined during the biggest economic crisis in a century.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.