* Ocampo: developing world candidates more prepared than US’
* Colombia’s Ocampo not standing aside for Nigerian nominee
BRASILIA, April 12 (Reuters) – Developing nations aim to
back a single candidate to challenge the United States for the
presidency of the World Bank, former Colombian finance minister
Jose Antonio Ocampo said on Thursday, though he did not offer to
stand aside in his bid for the job.
Ocampo met Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega in the
capital Brasilia as he seeks support from Latin America’s top
economy in a three-way race for the global lender’s top seat.
Ocampo is running against Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American
health expert.
“We are all keeping an eye on how much support the United
States has and also looking for ways to have a single candidate
for developing nations,” Ocampo told reporters in Brasilia.
Ocampo said he and Okonjo-Iweala have more experience and
are better prepared than Kim to immediately take the top post.
When asked if he was planning to pull out of the race to
back the Nigerian, Ocampo said “that’s above me because this is
a process that has to do with the ministers and they have to
coordinate what position they will take.”
Ocampo was referring to finance ministers for developing
countries like Brazil who are likely to make a decision on a
single candidate.
Continued…
