Paul Wolfowitz (File Photo)

    WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States has officially nominated Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as its choice for World Bank president, the World Bank confirmed on Wednesday.

    The nomination was made to the World Bank's executive board, a bank spokesman said.

    "The World Bank's board has received the nomination from the United States for the presidency of the bank," the spokesman told reporters.

    President Bush also confirmed the recommendation. US officials said that the Bush administration began notifying other countries that Wolfowitz was the US candidate to replace World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

    61-year-old Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Indonesia, was sworn into his post at the Defence Department in March 2001.

    He was among the most forceful of those in the Bush administration in arguing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. 

    The United States is the World Bank's biggest shareholder. The bank traditionally has had an American president. President Wolfensohn is stepping down as head of the 184-nation development bank on June 1 at the end of his second five-year term.

    The World Bank's 24-member board will vote on Bush's selection of Wolfowitz to head the development bank. Enditem