Zoellick to Lead World Bank

May 30, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By Barbara Hagenbaugh and David Jackson

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will name former U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick to head the World Bank today, two administration sources said, closing a tumultuous chapter in the organization's 62-year history.

The sources declined to be named so as not to upstage the official announcement.

Currently a vice chairman at Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, Zoellick has spent much of his career in government. In July he left his post as deputy secretary of State, where his portfolio included oversight of relations with Sudan's volatile Darfur region and China.

As head U.S. trade negotiator, he helped launch the latest round of world trade talks and completed negotiations to bring China into the World Trade Organization.

"Bob is an expert at creating influential networks of people," says Bear Stearns chief economist David Malpass, who first crossed paths with Zoellick when they worked in the Reagan administration.

Zoellick's appointment follows the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president. Wolfowitz, one of the key architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq while a deputy secretary of Defense, is leaving the bank on June 30 after a dispute about his handling of a pay raise and promotion for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

Zoellick is "inheriting an institution that is in considerable disarray," says John Williamson, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

As U.S. trade representative, Zoellick impressed his counterparts around the globe, even those who disagreed with U.S. policies, Williamson says: "He listened; he made an effort to (talk) with people instead of just ignoring them. ... That goes down very well."

Zoellick is "a good, solid choice," Wachovia global economist Jay Bryson said. "I don't believe he is seen as an ideologue, which is a good thing at this point. "

Created in July 1944, the World Bank provides financial and technical aid to developing nations. Although the bank is owned by its 185 member countries, the USA nominates the bank's president under an informal agreement.

Contributing: Sue Kirchhoff (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.