US nominee for World Bank chief's post meets India FM

New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI) US nominee for World Bank President's post Jim Yong Kim today met India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and is believed to have sought India's support for his candidature. Jim, Dartmouth College President and global health expert, was picked by US President Barack Obama to contest for the World Bank presidentship. He is also schedule to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Current President Robert Zoellick, who took office in July 2007, is schedule to retire in June. Besides the Korea-born American citizen Jim, the other two candidates in the fray for the presidentship are Jose Antonio Ocampo, a Colombian national and Professor at Columbia University in New York and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance Minister. BRICS, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been insisting that the selection of the World Bank President should be transparent, based on merit and not on the basis of nationality. Since its inception in 1944, the World Bank has always been headed by an American national. The new President of the multilateral lending body is expected to be elected during the Spring Meetings of the IMF-World Bank to be held in Washington from April 20, which will be attended by Mukherjee. PTI