President Donald Trump will nominate Kenneth Juster, a top economic aide and one of the key architects of the historic Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, to be the next US ambassador to India.
Mr Juster, 62, who is the deputy assistant to the US President for International Economic Affairs and deputy director of his National Economic Council, would replace Richard Verma if confirmed by the Senate.
The nomination of the new envoy follows Mr Trump’s announcement in his Afghanistan policy speech last week that a “critical part” of his South Asia strategy is to further develop strategic partnership with India.
As the under secretary for commerce, Mr Juster played a key role in developing the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between the US and India.
