"I am in Africa to learn, to listen to the various government officials as to how best I could facilitate the realization of their goals," Zoellick told reporters at the end of a day of meetings on Wednesday that included sessions with finance ministers from a number of West African countries – including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal. He also met with Ghana energy officials and representatives of international aid organizations.

US President George W. Bush tapped Zoellick, currently a vice chairman at Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs, last week to succeed Wolfowitz, who steps down June 30. Zoellick still must be approved by the World Bank’s 24-member board.

Ghana, the current head of the African Union, was Zoellick’s first stop on a tour that will also include eastern and southern Africa, Europe and Latin America. Zoellick’s tour has been described by some as a first step toward mending relationships strained by the bank’s outgoing president.

Zoellick said he decided to start his trip in Africa because it is a continent that struggles with poverty, inadequate health care and poor infrastructure that the World Bank can help improve.

He described Ghana as a prime example of a country that can benefit from World Bank assistance, calling the West African nation "a beacon, a leader in political stability" and noting that it is also improving economically.

The low-key visit was little noted in Ghana, where papers did not report on his arrival ahead of time and all the meetings were closed-door.

Asked by reporters if he supported conditional lending by the World Bank and Western donors that many in African countries have criticized as too-strict policy ultimatums, Zoellick said some conditions are necessary for responsible lending.

"It is just natural to make sure that any money given out is well spent. If you have development money, we want to make sure it is well spent," he said.

Bruce Mensah, an economics lecturer at the University of Ghana in Accra, said he would like to see less talk about mandatory privatization in loans for African development. "Especially clauses like privatization of utilities, including water, should not be made part of their conditions. We don’t need ‘tied aid’ " he said.

Zoellick, 53, has served as Bush’s former trade representative and was the No. 2 official at the State Department before he left to take a job on Wall Street last year.

Former bank president Wolfowitz said he would resign after a special bank panel found that he broke bank rules in arranging a hefty pay raise for Shaha Riza, his girlfriend and a bank employee.