Okonjo Iweala’s rival gets Japan’s nod

Japan’s government on Sunday threw its backing behind Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to be the next World Bank chief, as the Korean-American physician visited Tokyo.”He substantially understands the positions of developing countries,” Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi told reporters after meeting Kim, who was in Tokyo as part of a global “listening tour”.”He would be a suitable person to take the leadership of the World Bank,” Azumi said.

US president Barack Obama last month tapped Dartmouth College president Kim, known for his work in global health campaigns against AIDS in Africa, to lead the World Bank.Since the World Bank’s founding in 1944, Washington has always chosen its president.

But this year, it faces two challengers in Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Jose Antonio Ocampo of Colombia.Kim is therefore seeking to drum up support from major emerging economies on his tour, which is also taking in Brazil, China, India and Mexico among other stops. He visited China on Saturday and met Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan as he drums up international support for his candidacy, state media said.

The Korean-American physician, the favourite to lead the Bank as the US pick traditionally gets the post, met Wang in Shaoxing, a city close to Shanghai, the official Xinhua news agency said.The two other candidates to replace outgoing Robert Zoellick are non-Americans, in what is the first challenge to the US monopoly on the top job.Beijing has not officially backed any of the candidates, but has insisted that the nomination process must be based on “fairness, openness and transparency.”

Kim best known for his AIDS treatment programme at the World Health Organization, is also expected to visit his birthplace Seoul, New Delhi, Brussels, Brasilia and Mexico.Kim’s challengers are respected economists Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Jose Antonio Ocampo of Colombia.The Bank’s executive directors plan to interview the three candidates over April 9-11, according to Ocampo, with an eye toward a decision about 10 days later.