Many capitals have been waiting impatiently for news from Washington for weeks.

Now the American President Joe Biden has nominated the first candidates for the ambassadorial posts.

During the President's trip to Europe, the White House disclosed nine personal details.

Among them are old friends.

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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    Julie Smith is to be sent as ambassador to the Permanent Mission to NATO if the Senate confirms her.

    Smith is a close confidante of Biden.

    She used to work for the Vice President - as Deputy and Acting National Security Advisor.

    She previously worked in the Ministry of Defense.

    Smith is from Michigan and speaks French and German.

    In 2014 she left the Obama administration and went to the “Center for a New American Security”, and later to the “German Marshall Fund”.

    After the November election, it quickly became clear that Biden would bring her back into government.

    Foreign Minister Antony Blinken initially appointed her his adviser.

    Nomination for Berlin is still pending

    Biden also nominated Thomas Nides for the post of ambassador to Israel. Sixty-year-old Nides, who grew up in a Jewish family in Minnesota, became Bill Clinton's banker after serving in Congress and in the government, and held senior positions at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, where he is vice chairman. In 2010, Barack Obama named him number three in the State Department, led by Hillary Clinton. In anticipation of her election victory in 2016, it was agreed that he would go to the White House with her. Former minister and senator Ken Salazar is to become the ambassador to Mexico. The son of Mexican immigrants served as Minister of the Interior under Obama - the position in America is not responsible for internal security, but for the administration of the state.He was previously a senator for his home state of Colorado.

    In the next few weeks, further candidates are to be nominated for the diplomatic missions abroad. One reason why Biden takes so much time is the expectation in his party to put together a diverse personnel sheet. It is expected that he will soon nominate an ambassador for the important post in Beijing. American media reports that the president picked out former diplomat Nicholas Burns for this, but has not yet made a final decision. Burns, who is Professor of International Relations at Harvard, was Secretary of State in the State Department under George W. Bush. From 2001 to 2005 he was NATO ambassador. His time in Brussels was all about the fight against terrorism. Burns wasn't just busy with the Afghanistan mission.The controversy in the Western alliance over the Iraq war also overshadowed his deployment. In 2008 he resigned from the Foreign Service, but planned to return soon. In 2016 he advised the presidential candidate Clinton; In 2020 he was a consultant in the Biden’s election campaign team.

    Biden, it is said, wants a diplomat who is experienced in the crisis for the post in China.

    Foreign Minister Blinken said in his congressional hearing recently that China is undoubtedly the most important challenge facing the United States. Biden himself announced that he would take up the challenge that China represents for its own prosperity, security and democratic values.

    Washington also mentions names for two ambassadorial posts in India and Japan, China's regional competitors.

    So Biden should consider sending Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, to Delhi.

    Rahm Emanuel, Obama's White House chief of staff and former mayor of Chicago, is under discussion for the post in Tokyo.

    Biden also has to submit proposals to the Senate for Berlin, Paris and London.