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Former US Trade Representative and US Deputy Secretary of State, Robert B Zoellick (53), is said to be the frontrunner for the post of the next World Bank president, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Current World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz will step down on June 30 following favouritsm charges when he arranged a hefty pay package for his Jordanian girlfriend.
The name of the new candidate to head the World Bank is likely to be announced in Washington later this week, the newspaper stated.
Some of the other names doing the rounds to head the World Bank, according to reports, are former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist; US Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt; US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former senator from Missouri and US ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth; and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker.
In continuation of a tradition that began after the World Bank was created following the World War II, the next World Bank president will have to be an American.
However, despite the many names that are in the running for the top World Bank position, Robert Zoellick is said to be leading the race at the moment, said the FT report.
Zoellick, a high profile and internationally known personality is credited with bringing China into the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and with trying to revive the WTO's Doha trade round.
Zoellick has served as undersecretary of state in the first Bush administration and is said to have played a key role in brokering German reunification and also peace treaties in Central America. He is also a prominent and aggressive lawyer.
(Above) Former US Trade Representative Robert B Zoellick.
Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images