GENEVA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Two female candidates, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee, entered the final round of race to become the new director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the organization said on Thursday.

"Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Korean minister Yoo Myung-hee will advance to the third and final stage of consultations," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told journalists at WTO headquarters in Geneva.

Amina Mohamed from Kenya, Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri from Saudi Arabia, and Liam Fox from Britain, were thus ruled out of further competition following the second round of consultations.

The result creates an "historic precedent" for the WTO in its 25-year history that it assures that the new director-general will become the first woman to lead the organization, said the organization in a press release.

The spokesperson said that the third and final round of consultations with WTO members would run from Oct. 19 to Oct. 27, with the ultimate objective to secure a consensus decision by members on the next director-general.

The process for selecting a new chief was triggered on May 14, when former Director-General Roberto Azevedo informed WTO members that he would step down one year before the official end of his term. He subsequently left office on Aug. 31.

During the one-month nomination period starting June 7, a total of eight candidates were officially nominated.

In theory, Azevedo's successor should be selected by Nov. 7 under an agreed elimination process that is based on consensus. Enditem

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