Joe Biden plans to nominate Burns, Garcetti for ambassadorships: NYT

[May 27, 2021]    (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden plans to announce that he has selected R. Nicholas Burns, a former ambassador to NATO, as his ambassador to China, and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles as his ambassador to India, the New York Times reported late on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the process.

Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, speaks at a news conference on infrastructure on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Biden has also selected Thomas R. Nides, a vice chairman at Morgan Stanley who served as a deputy secretary of state under former president Barack Obama, to serve as the ambassador to Israel, the newspaper said .

Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and Obama's chief of staff, has been selected to serve as ambassador to Japan, according to the newspaper.

Cindy McCain, the widow of the late U.S. Senator John McCain, is said to be Biden's pick to serve as ambassador to the U.N. World Food Program, while Mark Gitenstein, a former ambassador to Romania, is said to be in consideration for ambassador to the European Union, the New York Times reported.

Biden is also considering nominating Mark Brzezinski, who served as ambassador to Sweden during the Obama administration, as his ambassador to Poland, the report added.

Ken Salazar, a former senator from Colorado and the interior secretary in the Obama administration, is said to have been chosen as the ambassador to Mexico, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)

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