Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Nigerian, has been penned among the top five candidates who will proceed to the next stage of the race for the World Trade Organization (WTO) job. Okonjo-Iweala is vying for the position of the director-general of the WTO. The five candidates who advanced to the next stage are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria; 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 were eliminated from the process.

In a statement on Friday, the WTO said member countries showed a preference for five out of the eight candidates who expressed interest in the position.