The World Bank has approved the nomination of US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to be its next president, succeeding James Wolfensohn from June.

"The executive directors unanimously selected Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, effective June 1, 2005, to succeed Mr. Wolfensohn as president of the World Bank, when the latter retires on May 31, 2005," the 184-nation development bank said in a statement on Thursday.

Wolfowitz, 61, was nominated by President George Bush to take the helm of the bank earlier this month. The nomination surprised the international community as Wolfowitz was an architect of the Iraq war and his hard-line foreign policy stance has made him a target of critics at home and abroad.

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