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CANBERRA - Australia has joined a renewed international campaign for an end to the convention which requires the president of the World Bank to be an American citizen.
The campaign is also pushing for an end to the practice of only Western Europeans being appointed managing director of the International Money Fund (IMF). Australian Treasurer Peter Costello, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega have all issued statements calling for the nationality restrictions to be abolished.
Their calls came following the recent decision by World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz to resign, following controversy over his decision to give his girlfriend a pay rise.
"At a time when the effectiveness and legitimacy of the bank need to be restored, it would be unfortunate if a truly merit-based process, allowing the consideration of candidates from any World Bank member country, were not followed on this occasion and into the future," Costello said.
Costello, Manuel and Mantega are all former chairmen of the G-20 group of nations.
-AAP
