June 25th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | 6 Comments
Amidst the stack of mindless articles carrying verbatim the Bank’s press release on Zoellick’s coronation, Steven Weisman’s piece for the New York Times stands out. He highlights one of the thorny issues that Zoellick will have to deal with - deciding whether Suzanne Rich Folsom, head of the department of institutional integrity, is doing a good job scaring bad corrupt Bank staff, or was doing a bad job of advancing the interests of the Wolfowitz coterie. more…
June 20th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | 1 Comment
Fans of 70s German synthpop will particularly enjoy this photo of Robert Zoellick with Brazilian president Lula on Monday.
June 19th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | 3 Comments
Yesterday the board posted this on the timeline for Zoellick’s coronation: “The Executive Directors have decided to invite the nominee to an informal meeting on June 20, to discuss key issues of interest to the World Bank Group. … Following this meeting, and follow-up interactions and consultations with their respective authorities, the Executive Directors intend to meet again on June 25, 2007 to decide on the Presidency of the Bank. They expect that all the required processes will be completed by June 30, 2007.”
June 15th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | 4 Comments
Principal nominee for president of the World Bank Robert Zoellick is currently laying low after letting it slip two days ago that key positions in the Bank may be filled by his pet cats and rabbits. This comes after stinging criticism of former Bank president Paul Wolfowitz for appointing his own favourites. more…
Nominations for World Bank president close today, and barring a miracle, it will be a one horse race.
In Norway yesterday, Zoellick met with development minister Erik Solheim: “The Norwegian principled position is that this should be an open competition where everyone should be able to run – Chinese, Argentinian, whatever, Norwegian for that matter. We will work with other governments to make such a procedure for future presidential appointments of the World Bank. That said, we think this is a very good proposal of Mr Zoellick as the new president of the World Bank.” Solheim also said that Europe’s prerogative to choose the head of the IMF should also be abandoned. more…
June 14th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on The Process | Comments Off
Liberal Democrat shadow international development secretary, Lynne Featherstone MP, has written to chancellor Gordon Brown and development secretary Hilary Benn calling on the British government to nominate another candidate or “failing that, to instruct the executive director on the board of the World Bank not to support the nomination”. more…
June 14th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on The Process | Comments Off
While it does require some grasp of British geography, a comment by David Woodward in the Guardian brilliantly highlights the absurdity of the leadership selection process and the governance structures of the Bank.
June 14th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | Comments Off
In London on Monday, Zoellick sidestepped questions on whether the US should retain the right to annoint the head of the Bank. The FT reports that when asked if he was likely to do a Wolfowitz by bringing in his own people to key positions in the Bank, he quipped: “I don’t have people. I have two cats and two rabbits.” Which does raise the question of whether they would be better qualified than some of the Wolfowitz appointees. more…
In May, Washington-based thinktank the Center for Global Development launched an online survey about the selection process, criteria for rating candidates, and ratings for nine candidates chosen by their staff from names put forward in the international media. Over 700 responses were received and now the results are in. more…
June 10th 2007 | Jeff Powell | More on Zoellick | 4 Comments
South African newspapers have been remarkably quiet about the Zoellick visit over the weekend. This from the Sunday Times: more…
