Kathmandu/Washington, Mar 30 (PTI) President Joe Biden has nominated senior diplomat Dean R. Thompson, who had served as the Consul General of the US Consulate in Kolkata as the new Ambassador to Nepal, the White House said on Wednesday.

Thompson is poised to replace the current US envoy Randy Berry, who has served in this position for the past three and a half years.

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"Thompson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, who currently serves as the State Department's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs," the statement from the White House said.

He served as the State Department's principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs and was the acting assistant secretary from 2020 to 2021, the statement said.

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Prior to that, Thompson was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and Charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest, Romania.

He served as the Consul General of the US Consulate in Kolkata, it added.

Thompson was also the Chief of the Economic and Commercial Affairs section of the U.S. Embassy in Colombo.

His other overseas assignments include tours at the US embassies in Paraguay and Bangladesh.

While stationed in Washington, Thompson has led several teams in direct support of the U.S. Secretary of State and served as Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff, the Deputy Director of the Department's 24-hour Operations Centre and the Director of the Department's Crisis Management Staff.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he also worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense on counterproliferation issues and U.S. security assistance to the Republic of Korea.

Thompson has a Masters of Public Management from the University of Maryland, School of Public Affairs and a Masters of National Security Studies from the U.S. National War College.

Interestingly, Thompson's nomination comes nearly a month after Nepal's Parliament had endorsed the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the USD 500 million infrastructure grants programme.

The parliamentary nod was granted after the programme generated much discussion in the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)