The reaction to Mr Wolfowitz's nomination as president of the World Bank has been cool because of his association with the war in Iraq which divided the West and led to Washington making a series of undiplomatic statements about opponents of the invasion.
Britain - the US's staunchest ally in Iraq - said they would look forward to working with him and foreign secretary Jack Straw saying Mr Wolfowitz is "distinguished and experienced".
The reaction in among states insulted by the US during the offensive was less positive.
German development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said: "The enthusiasm in old Europe is not exactly overwhelming." And the financial newspaper Handelsblatt said: "To put it mildly, Bush does not seem to care about the reaction in the rest of the world ... many will see this as pure provocation."
The French were more guarded in their comments but the environmental group Greenpeace said they were "very disturbed" at the choice. "It is a disaster to put the World Bank, which should be delivering sustainable development, into the hands of a man who clearly will put US and oil industry interests first," a spokesman said.
Mr Mohamed Al-Sayed Said of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt said he expected Mr Wolfowitz to bring "an ultra-right wing philosophy based on imposing a fully free market with no adequate concern for the poor".
"One good thing about it is that he left the Pentagon. He was behind the aggression on Iraq, he was behind the policy of encircling Syria and pushing it to the abyss, he is behind most of the American adventures of the last four years, and confrontational policies targeting the Middle East, particularly the states around Israel," he added.