Obama picks Atul Keshap as Sri Lankan Ambassador

Saturday, 28 March 2015 01:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Washington DC: US President Barack Obama on Thursday announced that he would nominate the current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Atul Keshap, as the Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Keshap, a career member of the Foreign Service in the class of Counsellor, currently serves as deputy to Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State. He has been serving in this post since 2013. Previously, he served at the Department of State as a senior official for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation within in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2012 to 2013. From 2010 to 2012 he was Director for India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Prior to that, Keshap was Director for Human Rights at the United Nations for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs from 2008 to 2010 and Deputy Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in New Delhi, India from 2005 to 2008. He served as the Director for Near Eastern and North African Affairs on the National Security Council from 2003 to 2004 and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 2002 to 2003. Keshap’s earlier assignments with the Department of State included postings in Morocco and Guinea. Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Keshap is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.