Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, the candidate of the Egyptian government for the exalted World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s director-general job, has been knocked out of the race.
This was revealed on the official website of the WTO which on Friday, also revealed that Mamdouh was knocked out of reckoning alongside candidates from Mexico and Moldova.
It further revealed that the two Africans left in the race are Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Kenya’s Amina Mohamed who will both proceed to the second selection round with South Korea, the UK and Saudi Arabia.
According to reports, the new leader is expected to take office in November with the BBC Africa reporting, that there was a growing feeling among African diplomats that someone from the continent should be at the helm of one of the world’s top economic institutions.
This came a month after Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, charged the agency to use merit as a parameter in selecting the next occupant of the exalted seat.