Bush taps ex-diplomat Zoellick as World Bank head (Roundup)

By Tony Czuczka May 30, 2007, 17:37 GMT

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick (R) speaks after U.S. President George W. Bush introduced him as his choice to be the next World Bank president, at the White House in Washington, D.C. on 30 May 2007. Zoellick, 53, would succeed Paul Wolfowitz, who is stepping down 30 June after a special bank panel found that he broke bank rules when he arranged a compensation package for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a bank employee. EPA/ROGER WOLLENBERG / POOL

Washington - President George W Bush on Wednesday nominated former US trade negotiator Robert Zoellick to head the World Bank, tapping a seasoned diplomat to lead the anti-poverty agency out of bitter divisions over Paul Wolfowitz's leadership.

Zoellick, 53, will take over for a five-year term if approved by the board of the 185-nation development lender. Wolfowitz, a former Pentagon official, is stepping down June 30 after a scandal over a pay raise he arranged for his girlfriend at the bank.

'We need to put yesterday's discord behind us and focus on the future together. I believe that the World Bank's best days are still to come,' Zoellick, a former US deputy secretary of state, said after Bush formally announced his nomination at the White House.

Currently a Wall Street executive, Zoellick pledged to reach out to the World Bank's staff, donor countries and nations that receive its aid before the board formally chooses a new president by June 30.

Under an unwritten rule, a US nominee leads the World Bank and a European heads the International Monetary Fund. Zoellick would be the bank's 11th president since its launch in 1944.

Though Zoellick, like Wolfowitz, is politically close to Bush, the US president seems to be gambling on his nominee's diplomatic credentials and a desire by other key World Bank countries to avoid a dragged-out nomination battle.

Zoellick has to rebuild morale at the bank after Wolfowitz antagonized managers and staff with what critics portrayed as an aloof, overbearing leadership style and by bringing in aides from the Bush administration camp.

In his first remarks, Zoellick indicated he would seek a strong focus on Africa and continue a global anti-corruption drive that Wolfowitz intensified.

Referring to widespread opposition to Wolfowitz among member countries and senior World Bank managers, he acknowledged there were 'frustrations, anxieties and tensions about the past' that he would strive to overcome.

'It will be my aim to work closely with and learn from the institution's dedicated and talented staff,' he said.

Germany, which helped lead the drive to oust Wolfowitz, has indicated it will back Zoellick, who helped negotiate German reunification in 1990.

Norway, another Wolfowitz foe, cautiously welcomed Zoellick.

'He has long experience of economic issues and has been a tough US trade diplomat, with good insight in economic affairs and has also shown great interest for Africa,' International Development Minister Erik Solheim told the NTB news agency.

But it remained to be seen how Zoellick could lead a large organization like the World Bank, Solheim said.

Critics have also focussed on Zoellick's 2001-2005 role as US Trade Representative, where he negotiated a number of bilateral US free trade deals that some economists view as putting rich-country interests ahead of the needs of developing countries.

Bush called Zoellick 'a committed internationalist,' citing his three decades of experience ranging from German reunification in 1990 to Latin American debt relief, peace efforts for Darfur and guiding US relations with China in his State Department job.

'He is deeply devoted to the mission of the World Bank. He wants to help struggling nations defeat poverty, to grow their economies and offer their people the hope of a better life,' Bush said.

'This man is eminently qualified,' he said.

The British charity Oxfam blamed the US and European powers for failing to give up Washington's hold on the World Bank's top job.

'Zoellick must be the last American-appointed president. This has been done in a hurry after a crisis, but he must commit to things being done differently in the future,' said Oxfam policy adviser Elizabeth Stuart.

As trade representative in Bush's first term, Zoellick was a key figure in economic relations with China. He became deputy secretary of state at the start of Bush's second term but was passed over to head the World Bank in 2005 when Bush chose Wolfowitz.

Zoellick has to rebuild morale at the bank after Wolfowitz antagonized managers and staff with his leadership style and by bringing in aides from the Bush administration camp.

In his State Department post, Zoellick sought to dampen tensions with US allies over the Iraq war - a background that may help him mend deep rifts between Washington and Europe over Wolfowitz, a key planner of the war.

Zoellick left government in 2006 to become vice chairman for international business at Goldman Sachs. He holds a doctorate from Harvard Law School and was an envoy to Group of Eight summits for former president George Bush, father of the current president.