World Bank heir-apparent faces tough task of restoring trust

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WASHINGTON, June 16 (AFP): Robert Zoellick, the presumed next head of the World Bank, will shoulder the task of rebuilding trust in the development lender after a scandal at the top exposed deep divisions.
US President George W Bush nominated Zoellick to succeed World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who was forced to resign over a favouritism scandal involving his companion, a bank employee.
Zoellick, a former US trade chief and deputy secretary of state and a vice chairman at Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, was the sole candidate declared by Friday's deadline.
"The board intends to hold a formal meeting next week on this issue," said a World Bank official on condition of anonymity.
Board approval is virtually assured by the end of the month, when Wolfowitz steps down. By tradition, the United States chooses the bank chief and European countries select the head of the sister institution, the International Monetary Fund.
Meanwhile, Zoellick is on a globetrotting "listening" tour, meeting with political and social leaders to discuss the way forward for the 185-nation bank whose mission is to fight poverty in developing countries.
"There is no doubt that the institution has been through a period of turmoil and I think that one of the tasks of a new president will be to try to calm the waters," Zoellick said Wednesday after talks in Berlin with Germany's development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.
Wieczorek-Zeul was one of the most vocal European critics of Wolfowitz, a former US deputy defence secretary and an architect of the Iraq war.
Zoellick, who as US Trade Representative helped launch the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of trade talks in 2001, has built a reputation as an extremely bright but tough consensus-builder.
"He is a committed internationalist. He has earned the trust and support of leaders from every region of the world," Bush said in announcing the choice of his close ally on May 30.
While on his swing through Europe, Zoellick said the stalled WTO Doha round could be restarted.
"I believe there is a deal that can be put together and it involves the elimination of agricultural export subsidies ... that distort trade, something that heavily involves the US, Europe but some others, Canada and Japan," he said.
A breakthrough would be "extraordinarily important for the world economy, for development, for growth, for creating opportunities that the round succeeds."
If confirmed as the 11th president of the World Bank, Zoellick must confront a divided staff and low morale at the Washington-based institution, with some loudly opposing his nomination.
Wolfowitz was forced to announce his resignation in mid-May after the bank found he had broken rules in arranging lavish pay raises and promotions for his companion, a bank employee. The bank's employee association pushed hard for his resignation.
The scandal reignited debate over the US grip on the presidential nomination, with critics, including non-governmental organisations and political leaders in developing countries and elsewhere, calling for a transparent, merit-based selection.
It also highlighted questions about the relevance of the six-decade-old World Bank's role in a world that now relies increasingly on private and regional financing in poor economies.
African countries are the leading beneficiaries of one of the bank's principal means of financing, the International Development Association. The bank holds international negotiations for the 30 billion dollars in funding needed.