US President Joe Biden nominated Indian-American Nisha Desai Biswal to a top administrative position in the US International Development Finance Commission, the White House said Monday.
Ms Biswal, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia during the Obama Administration, brings over 30 years of work experience in US foreign policy, international development programs within the Executive Branch, Congress, and the private sector.
She is currently Senior Vice President for International Strategy and Global Initiatives at the US Chamber of Commerce, overseeing the US India Business Council and the US Bangladesh Business Council.
Ms Biswal served as Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State from 2013 to 2017, where she oversaw the US-India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation, including the launch of an annual US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, the White House said.
She also initiated the C5 1 Dialogue with Central Asia and the US-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue during her tenure as Assistant Secretary.
Prior to that, Ms Biswal was Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), directing and supervising USAID programs and operations across South, Central, and Southeast Asia.
She has also spent over a decade on Capitol Hill, working as Staff Director on the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on Appropriations as well as professional staff on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.
Ms Biswal serves as the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and is on both the Board of the National Democratic Institute and the US Institute of Peace International Advisory Council.
She is a member of the United States Institute of Peace Afghanistan Study Group and the Aspen Institute's India-US Track 2 Dialogue on Climate and Energy. Ms Biswal is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied International Relations and Economics, the White House said.
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