comments on dynasty ... race for World Bank President !!

Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump is an American businesswoman, fashion designer, author and reality television personality. More importantly,  She is the daughter of the 45^th President of the United States, Donald Trump, and former model Ivana Trump. Ivanka is her father's senior advisor and is also the first Jewish member of a First Family, having converted before marrying her Jewish husband, Jared Kushner. Trump is a fourth generation businessperson who followed in the footsteps of her great-grandmother Elizabeth Christ Trump (who founded the company), grandfather Fred Trump, and father Donald Trump.

She was in India in 2017 – even as the whole World lauded and appreciated  Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with White House advisor Ivanka Trump at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 (GES) in Hyderabad, Congress  yet again politicised the event.  While speaking to news agency ANI, Congress MLA, Randeep S Surjewala brought back the dynasty debate.  Coming from the party that has ruled India for 6 decades he exposed his political wisdom asking - “Is Ivanka Trump not a dynast? Is that not the reason why she’s the Advisor to the US President?   .. .. .. dynasty is so common in India that you find in every political party, kith and kin of those in power rise to power in party ! – but one thought that was restricted to political postings !

The World Bank  is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital projects. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group.  The World Bank's most recent stated goal is the reduction of poverty.   The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is, traditionally, an American. The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other.  Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations. The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries which were unable to obtain loans commercially.

The President of the Bank is the much coveted post as the person is the president of the entire World Bank Group. Traditionally, the President of the Bank has always been a US citizen nominated by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank (the managing director of the International Monetary Fund having always been a European).  In this background comes the news that the good looking Ivanka Trump could well be the next head of World Bank – with other nominees including Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.   

Ivanka is thought to be a possibility after she was the driving force behind a $1 billion, Saudi-supported World Bank fund to promote entrepreneurship by women. The outgoing President Jim Yong Kim abruptly announced  recently  he was cutting short his tenure as the bank's president more than three years before his second term was due to end.  Jim Yong Kim, is a Korean-American physician and anthropologist serving as the 12^th  and current President of the World Bank since 2012. On January 7, 2019, he announced that he would be stepping down from his current role as President, effective February 1, 2019.  A global health leader, he was formerly the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a co-founder and executive director of Partners In Health before serving as the President of Dartmouth College from 2009 to 2012, becoming the first Asian American president of an Ivy League institution.  Kim was named the world's 50th most powerful person by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People in 2013.

This has opened the field to Ivanka, as well as Haley who stepped down as Ambassador last month, the Financial Times reported Friday. Kim was the first American nominee to face a contested election for the World Bank presidency in 2012 and the bank's board has said its selection process will be "open, merit-based and transparent," implying non-US candidates would not be ruled out. The World Bank Board said on Thursday it would start accepting nominations for a new leader early next month and name a replacement for Kim by mid-April.  In addition to Trump and Haley,   other names being floated include Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass and Mark Green, head of the US Agency for International Development, the newspaper reported.

Before becoming an adviser to her father in the White House, Ivanka was an executive vice president at the Trump Organization. She began her career as a model before moving into business and accompanying her father at the boardroom table on the hit TV show 'The Apprentice.' The Treasury Department declined to comment on potential candidates.  The department has received a 'significant number of recommendations,' a spokesperson said. Trump's Administration has been opposed to globalist institutions such as the World Bank, but will now been tasked with suggesting someone for the role.

Before concluding, the  World Bank Chief Economist provides intellectual leadership and direction to the Bank’s overall development strategy and economic research agenda, at global, regional and country levels.  As a member of the Bank’s senior management team the person advises the President and Bank’s management on economic issues.  Shanta Devarajan, born  in Sri Lanka, Shanta and received his  Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley, worked as a Chief Economist of the World Bank.  He co-directed the World Development Report 2004.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13^th Jan 2019.