Bush chooses new World Bank boss
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Robert Zoellick
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US President George W Bush has chosen Robert Zoellick, former deputy
secretary of state, to be president of the World Bank, US officials say.
Mr Zoellick would replace Paul Wolfowitz, who resigned amid a scandal
over his role in winning a new pay and promotion package for his
girlfriend.
Mr Wolfowitz will leave the post at the end of June.
Mr Bush will name Mr Zoellick on Wednesday, and expects the Bank's
board to accept him, an aide told Reuters.
The World Bank's chief economist, Francois Bourguignon, told the
BBC's World Today programme that Mr Zoellick had some useful experience
for his new job.
"He has been at the forefront of one of the big development issues in
the world, which was at the time he was negotiating for the US in the
Doha Round, so he knows very well these issues of trade, and the role
that trade may play for accelerating development in emerging and poor
countries," said Mr Bourguignon.
As deputy secretary of state, Mr Zoellick was chief aide to
Condoleezza Rice between February 2005 and June last year.
He is also an ex-US trade representative and is currently an
executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Earlier this week Mr Wolfowitz told the BBC that an "overheated"
atmosphere at the bank and in the media forced him to resign.
The outgoing head, whose appointment was originally opposed by many
European nations, said the bank's board did accept that he had acted
ethically, and in good faith.
And he told the BBC World Service that his own actions were not the
root cause of his departure.
BBC
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