After a long wait the US Senate has voted Eric Garcetti as the next ambassador to India.
Since July 2021 his nomination has been pending before the US Congress, he has been nominated for this position by President Joe Biden. Following the change of government in the US, Kenneth Juster, was the last ambassador of the US in New Delhi.
He was nominated by US President Joe Biden however since July 2021 his nomination has been pending before the US Congress
Earlier this year the Biden administration re-nominated Garcetti who is considered to be among close aides of the US President — as Washington’s envoy to New Delhi. The US Senate’s foreign relations committee last week voted in his favour. This has made it easier for him to assume the new role as the ambassador to India.
Who is Eric Garcetti?
He is the former 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles since 2013. For 12 years he was a member of the City Council, including six years as Council President. He was re-elected as a mayor in 2017 and he was according to reports LA’s first elected Jewish mayor, and also for the second time Mexican American mayor.
The fourth-generation Angeleno and son of public servants, he has lived and worked in Africa, Asia and Europe.
He is a former naval officer, a teacher and an activist and was born on February 4, 1971.
To expand global ties of LA, he was appointed as that city’s first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs.
For the first time in three decades, a According to information in the public domain he has been successful in his bid to bring the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
He has led more than 400 US mayors to adopt the Paris Climate Agreement and has also co-founded Climate Mayors.
He has taught at the University of Southern California and Occidental College. And has received his graduation and post graduation degrees from the University of Columbia and he has been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
He has also completed his further education at the London School of Economics and has been associated with the California Board of Human Rights Watch.
His views on India
He has travelled to India several times and spent a year in college to study Hindi and Urdu.
He will come to India at the time of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, at a time when India is holding G20 presidency and the US and China have locked horns over several issues.
In the absence of no ambassador for a prolonged period there have been significant delays in issuing visas to the travelers – for business people as well as tourists from India to the US. The delay was for almost two years which has now been reduced.
However the relations between the two countries has been robust as both countries are part of the QUAD and President Biden in his Indo-Pacific strategy has made QUAD a priority. And this has led to several telephonic calls and in person meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Garcetti during his confirmation hearing has promised to focus on enhancing India’s capacity to deter aggression, defend its borders, and sovereignty. And he is also expected to address issues related to India’s procurement of the Russian Air Defence Missile System S-400, democratic values and human rights.