There are important questions to discuss. Does Kim have enough political experience to manage the Bank’s board? Is he high profile enough? He has experience in health, but what about financial markets? Will the BRICs be pleased? Can he do the robot while wearing a white-studded leather jacket and spaceman sungalsses?
Some of those questions will have to wait, but I can happily announce that we can answer the last one. Would you ever catch Zoellick doing this?
News just started coming in that President Barack Obama will nominate Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank, a surprise choice coming on the day the deadline for nominations expires. Anonymous officials have leaked the information to the press ahead of Obama’s official announcement later today.
Kim is a global health expert who has been a Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has extensive experience in improving health in developing countries and was Director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department from 2004 to 2006, when he oversaw all of the WHO’s work related to HIV/AIDS, focusing on initiatives to help developing countries scale up their treatment, prevention, and care programs, including the “3×5” campaign. US health activists seem to be quite excited with the news.
Meanwhile, Jeff Sachs tweeted:
Jim Kim is a superb nominee for WB. I support him 100%. I thank all who supported me and know they’ll be very pleased with today’s news
Is Sachs going to pull out of the race?
Nominations close at 6pm Washington time today – that’s 10pm GMT. Two candidates appear definite.
Columbia University’s Jeff Sachs says he’s in, nominated by a collection of developing countries. Nigerian Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will face him, nominated by the South African consituency, which includes her home country and Angola. Slightly unbelievably, the US is yet to make up its mind which of an unimpressive list of second tier candidates it wants to choose.
But what of former Colombian finance minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo? Continue reading
Reuters is reporting that “Colombia said on Thursday it does not see the candidacy of former finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo to head the World Bank as viable, throwing into question whether he will be nominated for the post as a Friday deadline loomed.” Read More ..