President Barack Obama says his nominee to head the World Bank has key global experience that will help it improve conditions around the world. Obama says “it's time for a development professional” to lead the world's largest development agency. Obama is nominating Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to lead the international financial institution. The Korean-born Kim is a physician by training and a leading figure in global health and development circles. Obama announced Kim's selection at a White House Rose Garden event. Meanwhile, Nigeria's finance minister Friday joined the race for the top World Bank job, backed by Africa's leading economies in a push for greater influence at global financial bodies dominated by rich nations. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, flanked by counterparts from South Africa and Angola, unveiled her candidacy at a press conference in Pretoria, putting the weight of Africa's biggest economy and its two biggest oil producers behind her bid. “I consider the World Bank a very important institution for the world and particularly for developing countries deserving of the best leadership,” she said. “So I look forward to a contest of very strong candidates, and am I confident? Absolutely.”
