Wrote the four House Chairmen in a letter to Bush, released today and reported by Reuters. According to them,“The nominee should be deeply committed to American values, but need not have an American address. The global pool of talent is deep, and we should make it clear that the United States believes that the best nominee could come from anywhere,” the Democratic congressmen said. more…
If you like on-line consultations, here’s another one. With admirable dry humour the World Bank’s civil society team this week issued the following announcement, making no mention of the governance melt-down at the top of their institution.
“Please note that the deadline to provide web feedback to seek further comments to help inform the development of the governance and anti-corruption implementation plan has been extended to Wednesday, May 30″. more…
The survey which was launched last Tuesday by CGD has just published its primary results on reforming the process for selecting the president of the World Bank. more…
Very quiet, so far. Reuters reports that “Brazil, South Korea, China and Pakistan were among a group of developing nations that called for a more transparent process for selecting the head of the bank.” more…
From colleagues in Sweden, the response from the ministry of finance regarding their position on the leadership selection process: “The swedish (and nordic/baltic) position is very clear, the presidents of the World Bank and the IMF should be appointed in a transparent process, based on qualifications and suitability. This question is central to secure the legitimacy of the institution and that the governance agrees with swedish policy regarding recruitment to international institutions. This will be our position when the process of appointment now starts.”
The Dutch and the Nordics are doing the right thing. Angela, Gordon - what’s your excuse?
Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is urging Ghana, which holds the Chair of the African Union “to play a leadership role in quickly mobilizing an African position on the selection of a new World Bank president” more…
Bloomberg is reporting that , according to Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, “Zoellick’s odds of getting the job are 13-8, better than U.S. deputy Treasury secretary Robert Kimmitt at 7-4″ more…
The heroic Internal Communications team that is monitoring the internal bulletin boards is cracking down on comments posted about the Bank’s senior management. Two postings about General Counsel Ana Palacio’s flouting of the Staff Rules about political activities, including one with a link to worldbankpresident.org were removed, without acknowledgement. Another has just gone up, but how long will it stay?
By contrast, a posting on the EXT at 10:10 Washington time was still there two hours later. It asks pointed questions about what was going on while Kevin Kellems was running the Bank’s communications shop. Some very interesting issues (reformatted for easier reading): more…
Many of you will remember that Bill Clinton got some backing in 2005 as a potentially clever bi-partisan World Bank president appointment. This time he has had less mention. But now the former US president is back in the frame. Courtesy of … The Canberra Times. more…
Apparently we are still at first base when it comes to appointing a new World Bank president. Many people are keen for a quick resolution on this issue - not least many of us bloggers, the German government (which would hate to have the full G8 summit dominated by this same question), and Bank staff. It appears, though that we may have to wait some time. Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury Robert Kimmit told reporters at the G8 finance ministers meeting in Potsdam that his boss Henry Paulson “is not at this time talking names of people but how best to run the process to end up with the best person to run this important institution”.
