MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US candidate Dr. Kim chosen World Bank president; takes office next July

Kim will oversee a staff of 9,000 economists and development experts, and a loan portfolio that hit 258bn dollars

US nominee Jim Yong Kim has been chosen as the new president of the World Bank. The Korean-American health expert, president of Dartmouth College faced a strong challenge for the post, which has traditionally gone to an American, from Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Dr Kim will succeed Robert Zoellick, serving a five-year term beginning on 1 July, the World Bank said in a statement. Aged 52, Jim Yong Kim is a doctor lauded for his pioneering role in treating HIV/Aids and reducing the impact of tuberculosis in the developing world.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the new president's background would be valuable in the role.

“His deep development background coupled with his dedication to forging consensus will help breathe new life into the World Bank's efforts to secure fast economic growth that is widely shared,” Mr Geithner said in a statement.

And outgoing president Mr Zoellick added: “Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first-hand, through his impressive work in developing countries.

”His rigorous, science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernises to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty.“

Andrew Mitchell, UK international development secretary and a governor of the World Bank Group, said that ”as the first development professional to head the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim's considerable experience will be vital as he leads it through its ambitious reform and modernisation programme“.

Meanwhile, the bank hailed the selection process as competitive, saying that the challenge posed by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, as well as by Colombian candidate Jose Antonio Ocampo, would benefit the institution in the long run.

The three candidacies had ”enriched the discussion of the role of the president and of the World Bank Group's future direction”, the World Bank said.

By convention, the US has always held the top job at the World Bank since it was founded in 1944.

The top job of its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, has also always gone to a European but there has been much pressure from emerging economies to open the processes of both organisations to competition.

This year's vote was the first time the World Bank had to choose between candidates since its creation more than 60 years ago. Mr Ocampo announced on Friday that he was withdrawing from the race and supporting Ms Okonjo-Iweala.

The World Bank did not provide details of the final vote or which country had backed which candidate. Dr Kim will oversee a staff of 9,000 economists and development experts, and a loan portfolio that hit 258bn dollars last year.

Dr. Kim, currently President of Dartmouth College is a co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH) and a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization (WHO). Before assuming the Dartmouth presidency, Dr. Kim held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health.
 

Dr. Kim was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship (2003), was named one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by US News & World Report (2005), and was selected as one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” (2006). He was elected in 2004 to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest honours in the fields of health and medicine—for his professional achievements and commitment to service. He has published widely over the past two decades, authoring or co-authoring articles for leading academic and scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and Science.
 

Born in 1959 in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Kim moved with his family to the United States at the age of five and grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. Dr. Kim graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1982. He earned a medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School in 1991 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University in 1993. He is married to Dr. Younsook Lim, a paediatrician. The couple has two young sons.