The World Bank's new president, Paul Wolfowitz

The World Bank has a new President, Paul Wolfowitz. The US deputy defence secretary's will take over as head of the World Bank on June 1. Despite winning unanimous approval from the Bank's 184 member states, Wolfowitz's nomination by US President George W Bush proved controversial. Critics feared the 61 year old American politician, best known for being a key backer of the war in Iraq, would push his "neoconservative" world view on what is considered one of the most important multilateral institutions.

Wolfowitz has done much to allay the concerns of his critics, stressing his development experience as an ambassador to Indonesia and even flying to Brussels to answer questions from development officials at the European Union. He described the World Bank's mission to reduce global poverty as "one of the greatest moral challenges of our time" while also stressing the importance of fighting corruption and promoting transparency.

The European Union chooses the head of the other major global institution, the International Monetary Fund, while the US usually picks an American for the World Bank presidency.