The World Trade Organization is set to be led by a woman for the first time in its 25-year history.
The final contestants are; South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung Hee and former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The candidates were narrowed down from five to two on Thursday in the second round of the process to succeed Roberto Azevedo as director general.
The winner will be decided by consensus after the third and final round of the selection process scheduled to take place from Oct. 19 to 27, according to the Geneva-based global trade watchdog.
If Yoo will be considered, she would be the second Asian to lead the WTO after Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former Thai deputy prime minister who served as director-general from 2002 to 2005.
Okonjo-Iweala on the other hand, is the longest-serving finance minister in Nigeria and the first woman to hold that position. In her 25-year career at the World Bank, she rose to the No. 2 position of managing director of operations.
The selection process comes at a tough time, when an escalating trade war between the United States and China has shaken the flow of goods in the world.
US President Donald Trump has on numerous occasions threatened to leave the body, arguing WTO has failed to hold China to account for breaches of global trade rules
