International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Announcement of U.S. Recommendation of A. W. Clausen To Be President.

The White House today confirmed press reports that the United States has proposed to other member governments the election of A. W. Clausen to succeed Robert McNamara as President of the World Bank.

Mr. McNamara, who has been President of the Bank since 1968, has recently announced his intention to retire effective July 1, 1981.

Mr. Clausen, 57, is president and chief executive officer of the Bank of America and its parent, Bankamerica Corp. He is a resident of San Francisco, Calif.

For more than a decade Robert McNamara has provided the extraordinary leadership and sense of vision which have enhanced the role of the World Bank as our most effective international instrument of economic and social development. After reviewing the qualifications of numerous potential successors, the President concluded that Mr. Clausen is the individual best qualified to continue the Bank's strong leadership in the 1980's.

As chief executive of one of the largest American commercial banks with offices throughout the world, Mr. Clausen has acquired extensive international experience. He has the stature to maintain the confidence of the Bank's member governments and the trust of the international capital market, as well as a proven record of commitment to international economic development and assistance to poorer nations.

The Bank's President is elected by its Board of Executive Directors. The Executive Directors are selected by the member governments and cast weighted votes in proportion to their capital contributions to the Bank. The United States Director casts about 21 percent of the total vote. The term of the President is 5 years.

Since the organization of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1946, it has been customary for the Bank's President to be an American, and for the Managing Director of the IMF to be a citizen of another member nation. The present Managing Director of the IMF is J. de Larosiere of France.

Mr. Clausen presently serves as one of the President's appointees on the Japan-United States Economic Relations Group. He is a past chairman of the Japan-California Association, a member of the National Council for United States-China Trade, a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable, and a trustee of the Harvard Business School.