By KUNA,
Washington : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said late on Thursday that she was grateful that the seasoned diplomat Bill Burns accepted to serve as her new deputy secretary.
“Bill Burns began serving as the Department of State’s newest Deputy Secretary of State, alongside Tom Nides. I am grateful for Bill’s decision to continue his nearly 30 years of service to the American people as we implement President Obama’s ambitious foreign policy agenda”, said Clinton in a statement.
“As our most senior Foreign Service Officer, Bill has advanced U.S. interests all over the world. He has been on the frontlines during some of the most significant foreign policy breakthroughs in recent years, from building international consensus on free trade, to curbing the nuclear threat posed by Iran, to nurturing democracy in the Middle East, to helping negotiate the historic START arms control treaty with Russia”, she added.
Burns was confirmed by the Senate foreign relations committee when Republican Senator John Cornyn removed the hold on his appointment reportedly after a call from Clinton promising the Senator that the US administration would make a decision on selling F-16 fighters to Taiwan before October 1. Clinton noted that “wherever he has served, Bill has set the standard for leadership in our Senior Foreign Service. He is our country’s senior-most professional diplomat for a reason — he is the best in this business, a role model for generations of Foreign Service Officers and someone whose counsel both the President and I hold in the highest regard”. “I look forward to working even more closely with Bill to tackle some of the most difficult challenges we face, as we help build a more peaceful and prosperous world”, she concluded. Burns served as US Ambassador to Russia between 2005 and 2008, Assistant Secretary for Near East affairs between 2001 and 2005, and Ambassador to Jordan between 1998 and 2001.