UPDATE 1-Three women in final five for WTO leadership race

(Adds more on selection process, background)
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Three women, two of them from
Africa, advanced to the second round of selection to become the
next director-general of the World Trade Organization as the
field was cut from eight to five, the Geneva-based body said on
Friday.
The WTO is looking for a new director-general to replace
Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down a year earlier than
expected at the end of August.
The 25-year-old trade body has never had a leader who is
female or from Africa.
The five to go through to the next round are Kenyan minister
Amina Mohamed, former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, Saudi
Arabia's Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri and British ex-minister Liam Fox.
This confirms Reuters' reporting on Thursday that Mexico's
Jesus Seade, Egypt's Hamid Mamdouh and Moldovan Tudor
Ulianovschi were eliminated. Azevedo's successor will face a considerable challenge with
rising global tensions and protectionism during a COVID-induced
slowdown, most obviously between Beijing and President Donald
Trump's U.S. administration, and pressure to drive reform.
Round two, in which the WTO's 164 members will give their
preferences from Sept 24 to Oct 6, will whittle the candidates
down to two. The WTO has said it wants to select the winner by
early November.
Trade experts and former WTO officials say that the U.S.
presidential election, on Nov. 3. could extend the process, even
if that goes against the WTO's prescribed deadline. However, the WTO said the process had gone well so far and
that all members had taken part.
"The objective is to have this process completed within 2
months - it began on 7 September so on or about 7 November, so
we are on track for this. The process has gone smoothly," WTO
spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters.