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WASHINGTON: The White House's consideration of Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defence secretary, for the presidency of the World Bank (WB) has again raised the question of what qualifications are required to head the world's leading development institution.
A decade ago, when James Wolfensohn was named to the post, his appointment was largely seen as a result of his close ties to President Bill Clinton rather than any development expertise.
But European and World Bank officials are pressing for his successor to meet a higher standard. In consultations on the appointment, representatives from Europe and other countries have stressed the importance of development experience over other factors, government officials say.
The US Treasury, which has led those consultations, has not put forward specific names in order to avoid the controversy that preceded the appointment of Rodrigo Rato as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year.
The US and Europe have traditionally divided up the top jobs at the bank and the fund, because they control a majority of the votes on their boards. But developing countries have questioned the cosy arrangement, and demanded a greater say in appointments. P. Wolfowitz has experience in international relations, including a period as ambassador to Indonesia, but is not a development expert. European officials have diplomatically focused on this shortfall, rather than over his role as an architect of the controversial war in Iraq.
Carly Fiorina, who was recently ousted as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, has long been rumoured as a possible head of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank's private sector lending arm and a far lower profile position. The New York Times (NYT) reported last week that the White House also sees her as a possible World Bank president.
But Ms Fiorina, who is well regarded by President George W. Bush, has far less of a development background than Wolfowitz.
The White House has yet to make clear whether it plans to put forward either Wolfowitz or Ms Fiorina for the job, or come up with a different candidate.
The Pentagon reiterated late last week that Wolfowitz had no plans to leave his current posting.
"As we have said before, Secretary Wolfowitz has been asked to stay on in an extremely important job, one that he likes doing very much," said spokesman Larry Di Rita.
Another name at the top of the US list is Randall Tobias, former chief executive of Eli Lilly who has served for almost 18 months as the administration's international co-ordinator on Aids policy.
French government officials said last week that Wolfensohn's successor should be a heavyweight figure with experience of development economics.
German officials stressed that US opposition to Caio Koch Weser, a former WB official who was Germany's candidate for the IMF in 2000, had set the precedent of a veto.
European officials acknowledge, however, that because the US stayed on the sidelines last year while European governments decided on Rato, they are likely to support any strong US candidate.
European officials see Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, as the most desirable US candidate. Although it is not clear he is interested, some European officials have continued to lobby for his appointment.
He has a long record of involvement in development, including past membership of the Bretton Woods Committee, an NGO that promotes public understanding of the WB and IMF.
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