US Ambassador to India: 52-year-old Eric Garcetti will be the permanent US Ambassador to India. Garcetti has been the mayor of Los Angeles. He was nominated by US President Joe Biden for the post of US Ambassador, now his appointment process has been approved by the Senate (Upper House) of the US Parliament.
Process for permanent ambassador speeded up
Earlier, in the first two years of Biden’s presidential term, Garcetti’s nomination could not be approved by the US Parliament. This January (2023), Biden nominated Garcetti again for the post. After the nomination, 13 members of the US Foreign Relations Committee voted in support of Garcetti. These included two senators (MPs) from the Republican Party – Todd Young and Bill Haggerty. During this, the committee said- keeping a permanent ambassador in India is an issue of national security.
This post is vacant since last two years
According to the report of the news agency PTI, the post of US Ambassador to India is vacant for the last two years. America did not have a permanent ambassador here till now. In such a situation, the Biden government wants that the US ambassador should be appointed in India as soon as possible. For this, the Senate (Upper House) of the US Parliament has adopted a ‘clocher motion’, which shows that the ruling Democrats have a majority in this regard. Actually ‘clocher’ is a Senate procedure that limits the time for consideration of a pending motion.
There was a period of turmoil in the relationship between the two countries
American foreign policy experts said that the absence of a permanent ambassador in an important country like India could affect the relationship between the two countries. The ambassador has an understanding of the local perspective on important issues, which helps in finding solutions to the disputes between the two countries. He said that due to lack of ambassador between the two countries, there are problems in business. The US appointed A Elizabeth Jones as the temporary in-charge of the Indian Embassy in October 2022. Many experts say that this period has been the most tumultuous in US-India relations due to the absence of a permanent ambassador.