US Ambassador-Designate Eric Garcetti in India today

US Ambassador-Designate Eric Garcetti arrives in India

Eric Garcetti, the United States’ Ambassador-designate has arrived in India today on April 12. His move comes over two years after former US envoy Kenneth Juster stepped down in 2021 after Joe Biden became the US President.

The official Twitter account of the US Embassy to India, posted about Garcetti’s arrival.

Namaste, Ambassador-Designate Eric Garcetti! We're thrilled to welcome you to #IncredibleIndia and work with you to build even stronger ties between our two great nations. #USIndiaTogetherpic.twitter.com/5AsaSIQTcA

— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) April 11, 2023

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He is considered a close aide of Biden, and received the confirmation to the post from the US Senate around a month ago in March. Garcetti is the former Mayor of Los Angeles and was nominated to the post nearly two years back.

Post vacant

Notably, confirmation of Garcetti’s nomination to the post was delayed by the US Senate as some lawmakers had concerns that he had “not adequately” handled the sexual assault and harassment allegations levelled against one of his aides during time as LA mayor.

Thus, since January 2021, for perhaps the longest stretch ever in US-India relations, the Embassy was without an ambassador.

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About Garcetti

Known as a “committed public servant, educator, and diplomat”, Garcetti was confirmed as the 25th US Ambassador to India through a bipartisan vote held on March 15.

He has served 12 years as a Los Angeles city council member before being elected as the city’s 42nd mayor in 2013. He was then notably, the youngest mayor in LA history and was in 2017 re-elected with the widest confirmed margin in the city.

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Besides his political time, Garcetti also served as a reserve naval officer for 12 years.

He was selected as a Young Fellow of the French-American Foundation, an inaugural Asia 21 Fellow of the Asia Society, as a Rockefeller Next Generation Leadership Fellow, a Reboot Fellow, and a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute. In 2005, he received the annual New Frontier Award given by the Kennedy family and Kennedy Library to a young elected official who embodies President Kennedy's vision of service.

Garcetti has a BA degree from Columbia College, and was a John Jay Scholar at Columbia University. He studied Hindi and Indian culture and history while at Columbia and has a Master's degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Garcetti was selected as a Rhodes Scholar at The Queen's College, Oxford, and the London School of Economics and Political Science., after graduating Columbia. He met his now-wife Amy Elaine Wakeland, who was a fellow Rhodes Scholar classmate while in England.