LONDON - Most people will be "pleasantly surprised" if US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz becomes president of the World Bank, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Wednesday.
"Paul Wolfowitz is a very distinguished and experienced international public servant," Straw told BBC radio in an interview from Brussels.
"If his nomination is approved, we will happily work with him," he said.
"People will be pleasantly surprised by this man," added Straw who was in Brussels for a EU summit.
"He was widely regarded as one of the best ever American ambassadors in Indonesia, and somebody who helped to lead the move towards increasing democracy in that country," Straw said.
"So the balance sheet is a much more balanced one than some of his critics suggest."
Wolfowitz is a soft-spoken hawk in the US administration whose belief in US activism made him a leading intellectual force behind the controversial invasion of Iraq and the greater US push for democracy in the Middle East.
EU finance ministers agreed in Brussels Tuesday that Wolfowitz was a "serious candidate" for World Bank chief but said they want to hear his views in person, possibly in the next 10 days.
03/23/2005 10:09 GMT