James Wolfensohn said the bank's priority was to ensure the appointment did not further complicate the simmering dispute over the Baglihar Dam, which India is building in its zone of the Himalayan region.

The process of choosing an expert "is not too overlong, this is measured in weeks and months," Wolfensohn told a news conference at the end of a trip to Pakistan.

Pakistan asked the World Bank to name a neutral expert to settle the dispute after talks with India over the dam collapsed in January. The bank had brokered the 1960 Indus Water Treaty on which Islamabad's objections are based.

The argument has soured an already shaky year-old peace process between the South Asian nuclear rivals. Their competing claims over Kashmir have sparked two of their three wars.

"The only thing we want to do at the bank is to make sure that we impeccably follow the rules," the bank chief said. "What I don't want to do is have the process become subject to dispute."

Islamabad says it fears the dam on the Chenab river flowing from Indian Kashmir to Pakistan could deprive its wheat-bowl state of Punjab of vital irrigation water and charges it violates the 44-year-old water agreement.

Pakistan is concerned that in the event of another war, India could use the dam to cause flooding or droughts in Punjab, analysts say. India denies all the claims and is continuing work on the hydroelectric project.

Asked what would happen if either India or Pakistan refused to accept the expert's findings, Wolfensohn said: "The parties have agreed that it (the treaty) is binding, so we will go through the process and then there will be a resolution."

The bank chief held talks with Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his three-day visit.

He said Pakistan had made "terrific" economic progress in recent years but urged it to share the benefits with marginalised groups including women, children and the disabled.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.