Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economic Team, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and her counterparts from South Africa and Angola are meeting ahead of a news conference today to announce Africa’s position on who becomes the next president of the World Bank.
The meeting and news conference, holding in Pretoria, South Africa, will be to announce the endorsement of Okonjo-Iweala as the African candidate for the World Bank presidency.
The meeting is coming after another one by the President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma.
South Africa is a crucial partner in Nigeria’s bid to get the presidency of the World Bank.
South Africa chairs one of the three African seats on the 25-member World Bank board.
A statement by the South Africa Treasury confirmed the scheduled news conference on Friday (today).
The statement, however, did not give details of the subject of discussion at the news conference.
Colombia’s Minister of Finance, Jose Antonio Ocampo, is also interested in the World Bank presidency.
The President of the bank, Robert Zoellick, will be leaving later in the year.
The United States of America has held the presidency of the bank since it was founded.