Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
May 18, 2007

White House Ponders Successor for World Bank President
------------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1785F54:A6F02AD83191E1605ED3A8038DB9F7719574F7DCC14957C0 Paul Wolfowitz
resigned Thursday after an internal bank probe concluded he broke
ethics rules in arranging lucrative promotion for his female companion





Paul Wolfowitz (file photo)Several names have been mentioned as
possible successors to Paul Wolfowitz, who has resigned as president
of the World Bank.

Wolfowitz quit Thursday after an internal bank probe concluded he
broke ethics rules in arranging for a lucrative promotion at the U.S.
State Department for his companion, bank employee Shaha Riza.

The White House says President Bush will move quickly to name a
candidate for the post.

Among several people mentioned in various media reports are former
Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, current Deputy U.S.
Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmit, and Bank of Israel official Stanley
Fischer.

The United States is the World Bank's largest shareholder, and has
traditionally named the bank's president since it was established
after World War II.

Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, says the bank
itself should decide the nationality of its next president.

An official with the international aid group Oxfam says the selection
of the next World Bank leader should be based on merit, instead of
nationality.

Wolfowitz announced his resignation after the bank's executive board
issued a statement that he acted in good faith concerning his actions
over Riza.

Europeans were upset when Mr. Bush nominated Wolfowitz to run the bank
in 2005, because of his role as a principal architect of the Iraq war
while serving as deputy defense secretary during the president's first
term.

Wolfowitz's resignation is effective June 30.



Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


.