Kenya’s Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed seems to have lost her bid backed by the government to become the head of the prestigious Geneva-based World Trade Organisation. 

According to Bloomberg, WTO members have settled on two final candidates - Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee – to advance to the final round. 

Bloomberg reports that the two women are now set to advance to the final stage of the selection process, inching closer to WTO having its first female director general in its 25 years of existence. 

Okonjo-Iweala has served as Nigeria’s finance and foreign affairs minister. She has also served as World Bank managing director and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization chairman, while Yoo is South Korea’s trade minister and has career in government spanning 25 years. 


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 According to Bloomberg, WTO General Council Chairman David Walker intends to make the announcement formally to the trade body’s delegates on Thursday morning in Geneva. 

Kenya’s Amina, UK’s Liam Fox and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri put on a spirited fight but seemingly failed to secure sufficient backing in the second round of consultations. 

The final phase of the consultations is expected to commence later in October and terminate on November 6, after which WTO is expected to name a consensus winner of the tight race. 

The WTO topmost position fell vacant after Brazilian Roberto Azevedo opted to step down at the end of August, just a year before his term in office was scheduled to end. 

In 2017, Amina lost in yet another tight race to become the African Union (AU) Commission chairperson and lost in the last round of voting to Chad's Moussa Faki. 

So, what next for the seemingly unlucky Amina or all is not lost?