President Bush Nominates New U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives
The following announcement was released by the White House on Wednesday, May 24, 2006:
U.S. President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate Robert O. Blake, Jr., of Maryland, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of the Maldives. Mr. Blake, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, India. Prior to this, he served as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the Department of State. Earlier in his career, he served as an economic officer in Egypt, an economic officer in Nigeria and a political counselor in Tunisia. Mr. Blake received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his master's degree from The Johns Hopkins University.