Robert Zoellick to be next World Bank president

30 May 2007

Mumbai: Robert Zoellick, a former US trade representative, will replace Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank. President George W Bush will announce the decision later in the day, a US official said.

Zoellick will take charge after Paul Wolfowitz steps down on June 30.

Bush expects the bank`s board to accept his selection, the official said. The appointment of Zoellick must be approved by the World Bank''s 24-member board. But World Bank directors have never blocked a nomination in the past.

Bush wanted an American to succeed Wolfowitz, despite calls from World Bank member countries and some US lawmakers to throw the process open to a global pool of candidates.

Wolfowitz was forced to quit as World Bank president after findings by a special bank panel that he broke bank rules when he arranged for a hefty compensation package for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a bank employee, in 2005.

The White House had earlier said that the nomination process for the next president of the World Bank was almost through but press secretary John Snow did not give any names.