Fighting the poor should be easy enough; the World Bank has been doing that for years.
Zoellick Confirmed as New World Bank President
25 Jun 2007 19:14:49 GMT
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - The World Bank on Monday unanimously approved Robert Zoellick as its president after a controversial two-year term by Paul Wolfowitz, who agreed to resign over a promotion scandal involving his companion.
Zoellick, former deputy U.S. secretary of state and trade representative, was the only nominee for the job and will overlap for a week with Wolfowitz before he officially takes the reins of the poverty-fighting institution on July 1.
"Mr. Zoellick brings to the bank presidency strong leadership and managerial qualities as well as a proven track record in international affairs and the drive required to enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the bank," the World Bank's board of shareholders said.
Zoellick, 53, has said his first priority will be healing rifts between management and staff caused by the bruising battle over Wolfowitz, whose tenure at the bank was tainted from the start by his reputation as an architect of the Iraq war.
"It is a special honor and responsibility and I am ready to get to work," Zoellick said in a statement.
A tough negotiator with a reputation for being extremely demanding, Zoellick has said he will focus on the poorest countries in Africa but also wants to define a clearer role for the World Bank in emerging nations like China, India and Brazil, which despite rapid economic growth are still dogged by high poverty levels.
He will also have to position the World Bank to deal with new global challenges such as greater concerns about climate change and its impact on developing countries.
His five-year tenure begins in the middle of the bank's year-long negotiations with donors to raise funds for projects in its poorest borrowers, which will set the course of the bank's lending for the next three years starting in mid-2008.
"Once I start at the World Bank, I will be eager to meet the people who drive the agenda of overcoming poverty in all regions, with particular attention to Africa, advancing social and economic development, investing in growth and encouraging hope, opportunity and dignity," he said.
The White House welcomed the board's decision and said Zoellick was deeply committed to the mission of the World Bank in reducing global poverty.
In his first few months at the World Bank, attention will be on Zoellick's management style and how different it will be from Wolfowitz, who relied on a coterie of former White House and Pentagon officials as advisers.
While Wolfowitz made a controversial anti-corruption drive a signature issue, Zoellick has said little about whether he will stick with that strategy or change the way the bank tackles corruption in countries it lends to.
"My sense is that it is an important issue for the legitimacy of the institution but also for the effectiveness of its programs," he said about corruption on May 30.
Some of the stiffest opposition to Wolfowitz came from inside the bank. Zoellick said on Monday he intended to meet with the leadership of the bank's staff association.
Zoellick brings a broad portfolio of experience to the World Bank. He served as a top foreign policy adviser to Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign and has studied and commented on events in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
