US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the US nominee for World Bank president, will meet European economy and aid ministers in Luxembourg on March 30, Bank board officials said on Thursday.
The meeting will take place a day before Wolfowitz will likely be approved for the job by the banks 24-member board, with whom he met on Thursday. Since his nomination on March 17, Wolfowitz has consulted and met with groups of directors on the World Banks board and called ministers and poverty advocates around the world.
He has stuck to a careful script, talking about his passion for development and deep interest in easing poverty, and has given no indication that he plans major changes at the Bank.
On Thursday he met the entire board for the first time since his nomination in a question and answer session. Officials present said Wolfowitz assured the 24 executive directors he would work closely with them, something many of them have criticized current president James Wolfensohn for not doing enough.
Wolfowitz told them he was working on shifting from being a US government official to an international civil servant, one official at the meeting said. Such comments are intended to reassure his critics that he will distance himself from the White Houses influence and act independently as head of an institution that likes to be seen as a neutral entity. He also said he would look into more spending by the World Bank on infrastructure projects, an issue raised by developing countries.
Meanwhile, European members said in a statement on Thursday their meeting with him on Wednesday was “open and constructive”. They said topics touched in their meeting included the banks mission of poverty reduction, its strengths and weaknesses, its role among development agencies, aid effectiveness and its fight against corruption, and loans, grants and debt relief. The statement also said that Wolfowitz had accepted the invitation to meet with EU governors of the Bank.
The Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne regrets that Paul Wolfowitz is the only candidate presented by the United States to lead the World Bank, according to the ministers spokeswoman: – It would have been nicer to have several candidates, that way we would have been given a choice, spokeswoman Marie-Christine Lanser said. Lanser stressed that Van Ardenne recognized the qualities of Wolfowitz and hoped that he would put his “power” in the service of the World Bank.
Meanwhile, the outgoing president of the World Bank said that Paul Wolfowitz has given assurances he does not plan to further a US government agenda.
– This process was I think less than transparent. But it is my hope that the person coming in will be true to what he has been saying to me for three days: That he has no agenda for the US government, that he wants to be an international civil servant, James Wolfensohn told a House of Commons committee in Ottawa Thursday.
– And I believe what he is saying. I hope he will be another Bob McNamara, who came out of Vietnam and was probably the best president the bank has had, he said. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara ran the Bank from 1968 to 1981.
The World Bank staff now have the opportunity to post their uncensored views about their probable next chief, Paul Wolfowitz, on an online message board, a spokesman said Thursday. – It is an internal website that is designed to be confidential, it is something where they can share their views on the whole succession process, Damian Milverton said.
The site was created by the World Bank staff association after the controversial US deputy defense secretary was nominated by President George W. Bush. The banks 10.000 staff can post comments to the internal site anonymously. The comments can only be accessed by the sites administrator, and will be compiled into a report to be presented to the board meeting, Milverton said.
– It is a way of channeling opinions, rather than having them circulate all over the world, one staffer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
