世行員工聯合會呼籲由非美籍人士出任行長

The World bank's powerful staff association has called for an international search for a replacement to President Jim Yong Kim, pointing to a “crisis of leadership” at the bank just as he begins a campaign for a second five-year term.

世界銀行(World Bank)強大的員工聯合會呼籲在全球範圍內搜尋替換現任行長金墉（Jim Yong Kim，上圖）的人選，暴露出該行內的一場“領導力危機”，此時正值金墉開始爲第二個五年任期活動之際。

“The world has changed, and we must change with it. Unless we revisit the rules-of-the-game, the World Bank Group faces the real possibility of becoming an anachronism on the international stage,” the leaders of the staff association wrote in a letter to the bank’s board seen by the Financial Times.

英國《金融時報》所見的一封世行員工聯合會領導人致世行董事會的信寫道：“世界變了，我們也必須隨之改變。除非我們重新考慮遊戲規則，否則世界銀行集團面臨着變成國際舞臺上的過時產物的切實可能。”

Mr Kim was appointed president of the World Bank in 2012 and his term runs out next June.

金墉2012年被任命爲世行行長，其任期將於明年6月結束。

His tenure at the bank has been mired in criticism, much of it from within the bank and related to a difficult restructuring that he has pushed through.

他任世行行長以來一直受到各種批評，其中許多批評來自該行內部，與他推進的一場艱難重組有關。

He continues to enjoy the backing of the US, the bank's biggest shareholder. “The United States fully supports [Mr] Kim’s presidency at the World Bank, including the steps he’s taken to enact important reforms,” the US Treasury, which oversees Washington's relationship with the bank, said in a statement to the FT.

但他仍受到世行最大股東美國的支持。負責管理華盛頓與世行關係的美國財政部在給英國《金融時報》的一份聲明中稱：“美國完全支持金墉任世行行長期間的工作，包括他爲實施重要改革所採取的舉措。”

The board has begun informal discussions over how and whether to reappoint Mr Kim to a second term and is due to debate the process more formally at a meeting later this month, according to bank officials.

據世行官員表示，世行董事會已就是否及如何給予金墉第二個任期展開非正式討論，並將在本月晚些時候的一次會議上更加正式地討論相關程序。

Mr Kim told staff in a town-hall meeting earlier this year that he was open to serving a second term but had not formally sought a reappointment. He has, however, told board members that he would like to serve a second term, said one person close to the board.

今年早些時候，金墉在一次市政廳式會議上向世行員工表示，他對再幹一任持開放態度，但並未正式尋求連任。不過，據一位瞭解世行董事會的人士透露，金墉已向董事會成員表示他願意再幹一任。

In its letter, the staff association argues that the time has come for the bank to be led by someone other than an American, as has been custom since its creation at Bretton Woods in 1944.

在致世行董事會的信中，世行員工聯合會表示，是時候由一位非美籍人士來領導這家銀行了。自1944年於佈雷頓森林(Bretton Woods)成立以來，世行的行長例來由美國人擔任。

“We preach principles of good governance, transparency, diversity, international competition, and merit-based selection. Unfortunately, none of these principles have applied to the appointment of past World Bank Group Presidents,” the association’s executive committee wrote. “Instead, we have accepted decades of backroom deals which, twelve times in a row, selected an American male. This must change.”

世行員工聯合會執委會在信中寫道：“我們宣揚良好治理、透明、多樣性、國際競爭及擇優選取等原則。遺憾的是，以往任命世界銀行行長時，這些原則一條也沒被遵行。相反，我們接受了幾十年的幕後交易，連續12次選擇的都是美國男性。這種情況必須改變。”