Free Republic

• China and India set to become established global powers • Euro and renminbi tipped to join dollar as reserve currencies • Other developing economies predicted to flourish in recovery The wrenching financial crisis of the past two years will provide the catalyst for a profound change in the global economy – which, according to the man running the World Bank, will see China and India become established centres of power, the dollar eclipsed as the sole reserve currency, and Latin America, south-east Asia and Africa emerge as new sources of growth. But as he surveys the wreckage caused by...

<p>US economic power is declining as a result of the financial crisis, the head of the World Bank has said.</p> <p>"One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.</p>

World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, was born in Naperville, Illinois. He was educated at Harvard Law School and worked at Goldman Sachs and the State Department but still has the directness of a Midwesterner. He recently wrote to the G8 members who are meeting in Italy, a place about as philosophically distant from the Midwest as anywhere could be, that “…2009 remains a dangerous year. Recent gains could be reversed easily, and the pace of recovery in 2010 is far from certain.” The reason that he may not have delivered the message in person is even though he had the...

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - The World Bank has "paused" all program lending to Honduras following a military coup in the impoverished country, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday. "We're working closely with the OAS (Organization of American States) and looking to the OAS to deal with its handling of the crisis under its democratic charter," Zoellick told reporters, "In the process we have put a pause with our lending."

World Bank President Robert Zoellick Friday called on the new U.S. president to lead the developed world in diverting a small portion of economic stimulus to poorer nations caught up in the global crisis. Urging President Barack Obama to "send an audacious signal of hope," Zoellick said in an opinion piece in The New York Times that Obama should go to the April gathering of Group of 20 leaders in London with a proposal for developed countries to pledge 0.7% of their stimulus for a "vulnerability fund" to help countries that can't afford to run up deficits for bailouts and...

World Bank President Robert Zoellick called Monday for the Group of Seven industrialized nations to be expanded to include major developing countries, saying the current world leadership structure is ill- equipped to deal with global crises. Laying out a broad vision for a "new multilateralism," Zoellick pushed for greater cooperation in everything from financial and economic issues to energy and trade. "Our New Multilateralism must build toward a sense of shared responsibility for the health of the global political economy," he said in prepared remarks for a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "This means - chiefly and...

As leaders gather in Rome to discuss the global food crisis, our task is clear, but not sim­ple: to help those in danger today and ensure that the poor do not suffer this tragedy again. What has been described as a silent tsunami is not a natural catastrophe, but is man-made. The nexus between high energy and food prices is unlikely to be broken, and will be exacerbated by global climate change. The results have been rising production and transport costs for agriculture, falling food stocks and land shifted out of food production to produce energy substitutes. This is a...

World Bank slams corruption in aided Indian healthcare projects NEW DELHI (AFP) — The World Bank has exposed serious fraud in Indian healthcare programmes it has funded and said New Delhi had agreed to help stamp out corruption, officials said Saturday. Serious lapses in auditing, malpractice and corruption were found in five healthcare programmes launched between 1997 and 2003, it said, adding that the projects were jointly funded by donors, India and the World Bank. A "detailed implementation review launched by the World Bank and the Indian government in 2006 found serious incidents of fraud and corruption in the five...

Despite protestations from an influential congressman, the World Bank is going ahead with plans to loan Iran nearly $900 million – with the largest chunk of money coming from the U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, earlier this year asked the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick – a former member of the Bush administration – to suspend the loans. Zoellick declined, according to the New York Sun. Kirk, a member of the subcommittee that approves America’s share of the World Bank’s funds, warns that the loans totaling about $870 million will undercut U.S. and Western efforts to...

The Talk Shows Sunday, October 21st, 2007 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., presidential candidates.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Comedian Stephen Colbert; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Sally Bedell Smith, author of "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years."FACE THE NATION (CBS): Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., presidential candidate.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., presidential candidate.LATE EDITION (CNN) : Reps. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese parliamentarian;...

Having knocked off Paul Wolfowitz as president, the forces of the status quo at the World Bank now have another target in their destructive sights: The corruption fighters at the bank's Department of Institutional Integrity. New President Robert Zoellick will soon have decisions to make. As we reported at the time, the fight over Mr. Wolfowitz had little to do with his girlfriend and everything to do with his anti-corruption efforts. That truth is now coming into sharper relief, as a showdown looms over a series of reports about, and by, the bank's anti-corruption unit. Senior bank officials are especially...

WASHINGTON - Robert Zoellick, President Bush's former trade chief and No. 2 diplomat, appeared certain to win approval as the World Bank's next president. The World Bank's 24-member board scheduled a closed-door meeting Monday to take up Zoellick's nomination, which was put forward by Bush. No other countries nominated candidates. Zoellick would succeed Paul Wolfowitz, who will step down on June 30, ending a stormy two-year tenure at the poverty-fighting institution. Wolfowitz courted controversy from the start because of his role in the Iraq war when he was deputy defense secretary. However, it was his role in arranging a hefty...

MEXICO CITY - Robert Zoellick, the U.S. choice to head the World Bank, warned Saturday that Venezuela's economic and political troubles were growing under President Hugo Chavez's leftist government. "It's a country where economic problems are mounting and we are seeing (that) on the political and press side it's not moving in a healthy direction," Zoellick told a news conference in Mexico City. He also suggested that the World Bank's influence would not suffer if Chavez goes through with his plan to pull Venezuela out of the lending institution. "If a country feels it doesn't need or want the services...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Robert Zoellick, almost certain to be the next head of the World Bank, on Saturday took aim at Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, warning that his oil-fueled socialist revolution was headed for trouble. "It's a country where economic problems are mounting, and as we're seeing also on the political and press side it's not moving in a healthy direction," Zoellick told reporters during a visit to Mexico.

Some good may yet come from the successful putsch by the staff of the World Bank against Paul Wolfowitz. A great deal of good, in fact. Not that we should cheer the ability of an overpaid staff, besotted with anti-war fervour, to zap its president, first by urging him to resolve personally the conflict created by his girlfriend’s employment at the bank, and then by attacking him for doing just that. But this cloud has more than one silver lining. The first is that it finally made President Bush realise that he has been too attentive to those who advise...

Today President Bush nominated former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick as the new president of the World Bank, replacing Paul Wolfowitz. (Transcript) Later, in the White House Rose Garden, the president announced an emergency plan for fighting AIDS in Africa. (Transcript) First Lady Laura Bush spoke to an assembly at The Island School in New York City on behalf of her foundation for America's libraries. And President Bush arrived this afternoon in New Jersey to speak at a RNC fundraiser. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen Robert Zoellick, a one-time U.S. trade representative and former No. 2 official at the State Department, to lead the World Bank, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Bush will announce his decision on Wednesday. This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration's choice to run the World Bank could be revealed as soon as this week, the White House said Tuesday. The United States for several weeks has been scouting candidates to replace Paul Wolfowitz, who will leave the...

WASHINGTON - Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, the department's No. 2 official, is resigning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Monday. Rice praised Zoellick's "tireless work ethic," and said he had served as her "alter ego" in the department. She did not announce a replacement. "Our nation is stronger and safer because of your work," Rice said at the State Department. Zoellick told reporters later that he had informed Rice and the White House months ago he was thinking of leaving the post. After six intensive years as U.S. trade chief and then as Rice's deputy, "I determined to...

WASHINGTON Robert Zoellick intends to resign as deputy secretary of state after barely 15 months on the job, according to aides and associates. From his first days at the State Department, Zoellick has chafed at his subordinate position, frequently remarking that he was finding the adjustment difficult after running his own office during four years as U.S. trade representative, which is a

"I’m disappointed in you. I expect people to keep their word," Zoellick icily told Minnawi, according to observers. "I can be a very good friend, but I am a fearsome enemy." --snip-- To win support, Zoellick gave each rebel leader — and Lt. Gen Omar Hassan Bashir, Sudan’s president — an individually tailored letter from President Bush. The letter from Bush to Bashir held out the prospect of improved bilateral relations if peace was achieved in Sudan. Zoellick also gave Minnawi a private letter promising that U.S. troops would be dispatched to count the number of rebel soldiers as part...