June 25, 2007
World Bank Picks Zoellick of US
as New Chief By Tony
Czuczka
Washington
Former US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick was Monday
confirmed as the next World Bank president, said a source close to
its governing board.
Zoellick, 53, replaces former Pentagon official Paul Wolfowitz, who
is stepping down June 30 after an uproar over a promotion he
arranged for his girlfriend, a World Bank employee.
A Goldman Sachs executive and former US trade negotiator, Zoellick
was tapped by President George W. Bush in May to head the 185-nation
development loan agency. He was the only candidate.
He won formal approval at a meeting of the World Bank's 24-member
board in Washington, the source said.
After two rocky years under Wolfowitz, key donor nations and 10,000
employees worldwide are looking to Zoellick to rebuild morale and a
sense of direction at the bank, which lends some $23 billion a year
for projects.
He impressed board members at a four-hour private meeting last week
and has already talked about the need to adapt the 185-nation bank's
mission to changes in the developing world.
"He will be received with open arms," a European board member said
last week.
The hopeful mood contrasts with the politically divisive battle over
Wolfowitz, who resigned from the board on May 17 under intense,
European-led pressure. Wolfowitz has denied wrongdoing.
Wolfowitz's critics accused him of using the Bush administration's
agenda, in part by pushing the World Bank's role in Iraq. Wolfowitz
came to the bank after helping plan the US-led invasion of Iraq as
deputy defence secretary.
Zoellick, a veteran diplomat with a reputation for strategic
thinking and an impatient streak, has urged the World Bank to put
the past behind it and look to the future. Bush called him a
"committed internationalist".
Africa is sure to remain a major focus under Zoellick, and he has
hinted at a greater role for the World Bank in global trade talks.
He intends to fight corruption, but is expected to show a lighter
touch than his predecessor.
Wolfowitz made the anti-graft drive a hallmark of his shortened
tenure, raising eyebrows when the bank cut off loans and contracts
to several member countries it deemed corrupt.
One of Zoellick's first tests will be to raise a proposed $26
billion from donor countries for World Bank loans to the poorest
nations in 2008-2011, a boost of $8 billion from the last three-year
cycle.
By the annual meeting of World Bank member countries starting Oct
19, Zoellick would also be expected to present a detailed strategy
for his five-year term.
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