Ten things to know about Kenneth Juster, newly appointed US ambassador to India

President Donald Trump has nominated Kenneth Juster, who helped lay the foundations of the India-US nuclear cooperation agreement, as the new ambassador to New Delhi. The nomination was announced by the White House on Friday evening and has to be approved by the Senate. His nomination marks the importance Trump places on building closer economic, trade and strategic relations with India.

The position of the ambassador at New Delhi had been vacant since January when Richard Varma resigned along with most political appointees of former President Barack Obama's administration.

As the Under Secretary of Commerce, Juster played a key role in developing the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between India and the US. Between leaving the Bush administration in 2005 and joining the Trump administration this year, Juster had served as the Executive Vice President of the technology company Salesforce.com and as Managing Director at the global investment firm Walter Pincus.

Here are the 10 things to know about him,

1. Juster is a graduate of Harvard University. He has served as the chairman of Harvard University's Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs and as a Vice Chairman of the Asia Foundation.
2.  Juster (62) had served as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs from January to June under President Donald Trump.
3. He was also the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security from 2001 to 2005 under former President George W. Bush.
4. Juster still holds the position of Acting Counsellor of the Department of State. The diplomat represented Trump for the advance work and negotiations for the May G7 summit in Italy.
5. During his tenure, he founded and chaired the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group, and played an important role in developing the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) initiative.
6. The NSSP laid the foundation for increased civilian nuclear and space cooperation, and high-technology trade and expanded the dialogue on missile defence. For these contributions, the US-India Business Council honoured him with the Blackwill Award in 2004.
7.  He was one of the key architects in the strategic partnership that was initiated between the US and India, which laid the foundation for the historic civil nuclear agreement, adds a TOI report
8. Juster has previously served as Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001-2005, Counsellor (acting) of the State Department from 1992-1993, and deputy and senior adviser to the Deputy Secretary of State from 1989-1992 says a report by the Indian Express.
9. Juster has wide experience in working on India policy issues and the US-India ties.
10. Juster was Donald Trump's top pick as USA's next ambassador to India.

With inputs from IANS

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