Career diplomat tipped to replace Blackwill

<a href=www.outlookindia.com>OutlookIndia.com WASHINGTON, APR 25 (PTI)

US career diplomat Jeffrey Davidow is likely to be the next Ambassador to India in place of Robert Blackwill, who recently resigned to pursue academics at the Harvard University, according to sources.

Currently the US ambasaddor to Mexico, Davidow is one of only three American diplomats to hold the State Department's highest personal rank, Career Ambassador.

Ambassador Davidow studied at the University of Massachusetts (BA, 1965), the University of Minnesota (MA, 1967), and at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

While in the Foreign Service, he spent one year as a Fellow of the American Political Science Association working a s a Congresional staff aide (1979) and another year as a Fellow of the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University (1982).

He was appointed Ambassador to Mexico in 1998 as been serving in that capacity since. He has previously served as Ambassador to Zambia and Venezuela, and was Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs in 1996.

He has spent much of his 29-year career focusing on Latin America. In addition to his Ambassadorial positions, he has served in U.S. Embassies in Gu temala, Chile and Venezuela He was also posted to South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A Jewish-American, Davidow is married to Joan Labuzoski and the couple have two daughters.