Hillary Clinton denies rumoured departure for World Bank top job

US secretary of state will not be quitting White House next year to replace Robert Zoellick, spokesman says Hillary Clinton has denied reports that she is planning to quit her job next year to become head of the World Bank. The US secretary of state and former first lady has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years. Associates told Reuters that Clinton has told the White House she would be interested in the World Bank job should current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012. Such a move would come as America’s top diplomat is dealing with the toughest set of foreign policy challenges yet faced by the Obama administration. Clinton is orchestrating US reaction to the Arab Spring uprisings and the continuing unrest in the middle east and war in Afghanistan. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines flatly denied the report to The Washington Post. “100% untrue, Reuters is wrong,” Reines wrote in an e-mail to the paper. Alex Slater, managing director of Democratic consultancy SKDK, said he was “surprised” by the reports: “She has done an incredible job at the state department and her approval ratings are extremely high,” he said. Slater said he had no knowledge of her intentions but said she had always made clear that she was going to leave after the first term. Clinton would need the approval of the 187 member countries of the World Bank in order to secure the job. She is widely seen to have done an excellent job at the state department after her unsuccessful attempt to beat president Barack Obama to lead the Democrat’s into the 2008 election. The World Bank has traditionally been headed by an American. The US is currently assessing candidates for the top job at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank’s sister organisation, and now is a sensitive moement for negotiations over both jobs. The IMF job came free after the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn following allegations of attempted rape. The IMF has traditionally been headed by a European. One leading candidate is France’s finance minister Christine Lagarde, who has yet to secure US approval for her bid. Neither the IMF nor the World Bank have ever been led by a woman. Should Clinton leave, John Kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and a close Obama ally, is seen as a possible replacement for her. But it will be difficult to match her star power. The World Bank would provide Clinton with a platform for many of her biggest concerns. The organisation provides billions in funds to the world’s poorest countries and Clinton has long been vocal on global development issues. Hillary Clinton Obama administration John Kerry US politics United States World Bank IMF Global economy Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 9, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.