AUSTRALIAN aid expert Bruce Davis has denied reports that he is the frontrunner to head the World Food Program, the UN’s frontline agency in the war on global hunger.

Despite the speculation, a spokesman for Mr [Alexander Downer] said Mr Davis was staying in his current job. “He is well regarded and very experienced,” the spokesman said. “He has been in working in the world development area for many years.”

The possibility of Mr Davis replacing her is causing angst in Washington DC, not because he is Australian, but because the US’s role at the UN will be further diminished.

AUSTRALIAN aid expert Bruce Davis has denied reports that he is the frontrunner to head the World Food Program, the UN’s frontline agency in the war on global hunger.

The New York Times has reported that Mr Davis is the leading contender for the soon-to-be-vacated UN job, which is based in Rome.

Both Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s office and Mr Davis himself have denied any knowledge of the reports.

Ipswich-born and Canberra-based Mr Davis, 48, has been director general of the Australian Agency for International Development, AusAID, since October 1999.

Mr Davis, who is married with two children, has worked in international aid and development since joining the department in 1975.

But despite the speculation, a spokesman for Mr Downer said Mr Davis was staying in his current job. “He is well regarded and very experienced,” the spokesman said. “He has been in working in the world development area for many years.”

Mr Davis has also expressed bewilderment at the suggestion he is about to take on the high-flying job.

“It has never been mooted — it has never been floated. I have never had any contact with anyone about it,” he told The Australianyesterday.

The WFP co-ordinates food distribution to impoverished nations and organises emergency food relief during crises, such as thefloods now devastating parts of Indonesia.

United States bureaucrat Catherine Bertini is coming to the end of the maximum 10-year term as executive director of the agency.The UN is expected to announce her replacement this week.

The Bush administration put up only one candidate for the job, Indiana University board of trustees president James Morris, whomthe UN rejected.

Ms Bertini was the first American to head the WFP, to which the US is the biggest donor, providing $US796 million in 2000.

The possibility of Mr Davis replacing her is causing angst in Washington DC, not because he is Australian, but because the US’s role at the UN will be further diminished.

The US was stung last May when it lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Commission. A congressional report released two months later warned the US was seriously under represented at the world body.