Wednesday, January 18 2006 11:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: US President George W Bush proposes to nominate Richard Boucher as the next Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, succeeding Christina Rocca.

Bush has said he 'intends' to nominate the Career Minister to the post. Boucher's nomination has to be confirmed by the US Senate.

Boucher is a foreign service officer with the rank of Career Minister and was until recently the State Department's Spokesman with the rank of Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.Prior to this post he was a senior official for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

He has also served as the American Ambassador to Cyprus and Consul General in Hong Kong.

The White House announcement of the intention to nominate Boucher is the first step in a process. Boucher will now have to be formally nominated by the White House which will then be followed by hearings and confirmation by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which will then recommend him to the full Senate for a vote.

The White House intent to nominate has not stated if Boucher will just preside over South Asia or will have him take on a larger bureau of South and Central Asia as recently indicated by the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.