New World Bank chief

New World Bank chief

Kim tasked with bringing new perspective The World Bank selected Korean-American physician Jim Yong Kim as its next president at a meeting of the bank’s directors Monday, as widely expected. He was chosen over Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala despite pressure from emerging and developing economies and will succeed outgoing President Robert Zoellick on July 1 for a five-year term. We welcome the selection of Kim, president of the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, not because he is of Korean descent but because he is qualified enough to become a leader of the huge development lender. Rather, we see the plausibility that his Korean roots could be a valuable asset, taking into account that Korea is actually the only country in the world that has transformed from a recipient to a donor nation. It’s also encouraging to see the 52-year-old health expert and educator become the bank’s first leader of Asian descent. Previous presidents have been America’s bankers or Washington officials. Born in Seoul in 1959, Kim moved to the U.S. with his family when he was five. He has served as the president of Dartmouth College since 2009. In the lead-up to his choice, there have been voices of concern about his lack of financial background, particularly from his rivals. Some influential newspapers, in fact, reported that the Nigerian finance minister might be better suited for the top post of the World Bank, one of the two leading international financial institutions along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite his shortcomings, he is reputed for having expertise in development and medicine. He has been involved in developing programs to fight diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in poor countries since the middle of the 1990s. In his contribution to the Financial Times last month, he showed confidence about his new job. ``As co-founder of Partners in Health and director of the World Health Organization’s initiative to treat HIV/AIDS, I will bring practical experience to the world.’’ Kim, who became the World Bank leader after the first-ever open competition, will have to bring a fresh perspective to the bank, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner said right after his selection. The World Bank has played a key role in the reconstruction of poor countries since World War II, having far-reaching influence around the world. More recently, however, there has been mounting criticism about the bank’s role with observers saying the donor agency has served only the interest of Western capital, not paying attention to improvements in people’s livelihoods in the developing world. In a statement Monday, Kim pledged to ``seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world.’’ To this end, he has to kill two birds with one stone: addressing poverty problems and easing complaints in the emerging world. In particular, he must deal with his opponents within the bank wisely and skillfully. Given that the U.S. faced an unprecedented challenge in the selection process, their voices could be more vocal than ever before.