Next World Bank Prez Meets World

Former trade rep Robert Zoellick embarked on a world tour yesterday, in advance of his likely ascension to president of the World Bank this month. Zoellick will stop in Africa to visit the bank's largest beneficiaries, and Europe to schmooze with its largest donors. "I want to leave no stone unturned," he said.

Zoellick will almost certainly replace disgraced president Paul Wolfowitz in the post. He says it's too early to reveal his strategy for moving past the bank's recent leadership crisis, not to mention his strategy for halving world poverty by 2010. "People understand the bank has gone through a difficult period and most people are looking ahead," he said. (More Robert Zoellick stories.)