Rasheeda Bhagat

Washington DC , March 29

ON A cold and very wet Monday in Washington DC, as the ESSD (Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development) week got under way at the headquarters of the World Bank, the controversial nomination of the US Deputy Secretary of Defence, Mr Paul Wolfowitz, by the US President, Mr George W. Bush, as the next President of the Bank was naturally the subject of comment and discussion at the sidelines of the conference.

Coming as it did on the heels of his appointing Mr John Bolton, another American hardliner, to the United Nations, this nomination has kicked up a storm of protest, which will only gather momentum as the date of appointment comes closer.

At the reception held for the hundreds of World Bank employees who have come to the Bank's headquarters for brainstorming on social and development issues through the ESSD week, the World Bank President, Mr James D. Wolfensohn, made a brief appearance.

Asked by this correspondent at the concern expressed all over the world, particularly in Europe and in developing countries, over whether the new President would continue the policies he had put in place at the Bank over the last 10 years, he said with a smile, "I think he will''.

When told that the rest of the world believes otherwise, he said, "I think they will be proved wrong and I'll be proved right''.

Earlier, addressing the gathering for a few minutes, Mr Wolfensohn joked that he had been originally asked to speak for an hour, "but as soon as my retirement was announced, I was asked to talk to you for five minutes while you have a drink!''

At the inaugural session, welcoming the delegates to the ESSD Week, Mr Ian Johnson, Vice-President, Sustainable Development, World Bank, said the world was now looking at sustainable development through the new lens of "uncertainty and risk'' when it came to issues such as delivery of essential services such as healthcare, education, water and sanitation needs.

The recent tsunami tragedy had once again raised the question on whether "we are paying enough attention to the coping mechanism'' of the vulnerable sections during such crisis.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr Ismail Serageldin, former Vice-President, Sustainable Development, and currently Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandria, Egypt, addressed issues related to "human security in an increasingly fragile world'', the theme of this year's ESSD week.

Among the several challenges the world faced on this score were development of human and social capital across the world on equitable lines, cultural wars, gender issues and equity issues between the poor and the rich nations, socio-cultural dimensions and the question "why do people turn on their neighbours'', the cultural dynamics in the Muslim world and the tussle between "the very strong Islamic current'' and a small but growing section in the Islamic world advocating liberal values.

"We need to go deeper into understanding Muslim culture and answering complex questions like why Muslim girls are today veiling themselves when their mothers fought'' a generation ago to drop the veil, he said. But as the delegates addressed such complex social, cultural and environmental issues, there was understandably a very strong undercurrent palpable at the conference vis-à-vis the new and controversial president they would soon have. Said one delegate, "We're still trying to figure out the choice; four to five names, including that of Mr Colin Powell, were floating around, but nobody had even mentioned Mr Wolfowitz's name. We're amazed at this choice.''

In an editorial titled `Wolf at the door', The Economist said, "the Europeans and others'' were shocked about "how could Mr Bush, who promised a more conciliatory diplomatic touch in his second term, put one of his most controversial lieutenants into the world's top economic-development job? Clear proof, they fumed, that Mr Bush doesn't give a fig for multinationalism.''

Debating whether Mr Wolfowitz has the "right talents for the job'' of managing "the world's biggest development agency — a sprawling bureaucracy that is extremely difficult to run well'', the editorial said "the appointment at least shows that Mr Bush takes the World Bank seriously''.

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