Wolfowitz tapped
to lead World Bank

Administration supporters of Wolfowitz said Wednesday he is suited for the World Bank post and pointed to his management experiences at the Pentagon and his diplomatic experience at the State Department. He had served as assistant secretary of State for east Asia during the Philippine transition to democracy. He also served as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.

The World Bank’s 24-member board will soon vote on Bush’s selection of Wolfowitz to head the development bank. Approval is expected.

“The executive directors of the board ... are in the process of consultations with the member countries they represent,” the World Bank said in a statement.

Wolfensohn, bank president since June 1, 1995, emphasized reducing poverty in developing nations and making lending projects more effective. Previously, he headed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and was a Wall Street investment banker for 20 years.

Wolfensohn, in a statement, said he has known Wolfowitz personally and professionally for a long time. “He is a person of high intellect and broad experience in and out of the government and has many of the qualifications that would be critical to leading the bank,” Wolfensohn said. “I look forward to ... doing everything that I possibly can to ensure a successful transition.”

For now, it is expected that Wolfowtiz would take over the World Bank post when Wolfensohn’s term ends on June 1.

William Cohen, who was secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, praised Wolfowitz.

“He has a keen understanding of the tides and trends that have shaped our world since the end of the Cold War,” Cohen said, “and a deep commitment to liberty and improving the quality of life for suffering people.”

The Bush administration has been pushing for major reforms in how the World Bank operates, especially interested in having the development bank dole out aid in the forms of grants, which don’t have to be repaid, rather than loans.

A number of people were said to have been in the running as his successor, among them Carly Fiorina, the recently ousted chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co.; John Taylor, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for international affairs; Peter McPherson, the former head of Michigan State University who served as Bush’s point man on rebuilding Iraq’s financial system; Randall Tobias, Bush’s global AIDS coordinator; and Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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