Former US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick was confirmed Monday as the next World Bank president by the aid agency's governing board, a source close to the meeting said, according to dpa. Zoellick, 53, replaces former Pentagon official Paul Wolfowitz, who is stepping down June 30 after an uproar over a promotion he arranged for his girlfriend, a World Bank employee. A Goldman Sachs executive and former US trade negotiator, Zoellick was tapped by President George W Bush in May to head the 185-nation development loan agency. He was the only candidate. He won formal approval at a meeting of the World Bank's 24-member board in Washington, the source said. After two rocky years under Wolfowitz, key donor nations and 10,000 employees worldwide are looking to Zoellick to rebuild morale and a sense of direction at the bank, which lends some 23 billion dollars a year for projects. He impressed board members at a four-hour private meeting last week and has already talked about the need to adapt the 185-nation bank's mission to changes in the developing world. "He will be received with open arms," a European board member said last week. The hopeful mood contrasts with the politically divisive battle over Paul Wolfowitz, who resigned on May 17 under intense, European- led pressure from the board. Wolfowitz has denied wrongdoing. Wolfowitz's critics accused him of using the Bush administration's agenda, in part by pushing the World Bank's role in Iraq. Wolfowitz came to the bank after helping plan the US-led invasion of Iraq as deputy defence secretary. Zoellick, a veteran diplomat with a reputation for strategic thinking and an impatient streak, has urged the World Bank to put the past behind it and look to the future. Bush called him a "committed internationalist."
