Trump’s official in charge of South Asia to visit Sri Lanka

By APD Writer Easwaran

COLOMBO, Aug. 27 (APD) -- Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Alice Wells is to visit Sri Lanka this week as part of a visit to South Asia, officials said on Sunday.

Alice Wells

US President Donald Trump’s official will travel to Dhaka, Islamabad, and Colombo from August 28-September 2.

She will meet with government officials, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss US cooperation in the region.

On September 1, she will speak at the Indian Ocean Conference in Colombo, which will bring together high-level officials from around the world to discuss peace, progress, and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region.

Wells, a career Foreign Service Officer, assumed her duties as Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan on June 26, 2017.

She previously served as the United States Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; a senior adviser in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau in the Department of State, as Special Assistant to the President for Russia and Central Asia in the White House; Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Clinton; and Executive Assistant to Under Secretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns.

From 2006 to 2009, Ambassador Wells served as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at US Embassy Moscow, and previously worked as Director of Maghreb Affairs and as Acting Director of Egypt and North African Affairs in the Bureau ofNear Eastern Affairs.

Ambassador Wells also served as a political officer at US Embassy New Delhi, US Embassy Islamabad and US Embassy Riyadh.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)