President Barack Obama has chosen U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake to replace Richard Boucher as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs dealing with India and Pakistan.
In announcing his nomination, the White House noted Mr. Blake had also been Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. mission in New Delhi from 2003 to 2006.
If approved by the Senate, Mr. Blake will also deal with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A veteran diplomat, Mr. Blake, as Ambassador to Colombo and the Maldives, has urged Sri Lankan officials to let civilians leave the safe zone where they were trapped with Tamil Tiger rebels.
A foreign service officer since 1985, Mr. Blake has also served at the U.S. embassies in Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt. He also has held a number of positions at the State Department in Washington. Mr. Blake earned a bachelor of arts from Harvard in 1980 and a masters in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1984. Source:— IANS
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