Thailand gets new US envoy
Play
THE UNITED STATES Senate has approved the appointment of Glyn Davies as the new ambassador to Thailand, giving him a full mandate to lead the US mission in the Kingdom at a time of strained diplomatic ties with Washington. The announcement was made yester
US Senate has confirmed Glyn Davies as next US Ambassador to Kingdom of Thailand. Congrats to my future boss, a terrific diplomat!” Murphy tweeted. He did not specify when Davies will take up the post.
The new envoy, a career diplomat at the US State Department, later posted on Twitter: “Happy & honoured to be confirmed by US Senate. Jackie [his wife] & I look forward to our move to Bangkok – City of Angels!”
Thailand and the US’ relationship became frayed following the May 22, 2014 coup. Washington took a tough stance, labelling the coup a political setback and the precursor to human rights violations.
Military assistance to Thailand has been frozen since the coup and a military joint exercise scaled down. The State Department downgraded Thailand’s status on human trafficking to the lowest level last year and maintained the status this year.
US President Barack Obama nominated Davies as the new ambassador in April after a six-month vacancy for the job. His name was communicated to the Thai government and got approval from the Cabinet in late March.
Davies’ predecessor Kristie Kenney ended her tenure in November and is now deputy assistant secretary for public affairs and public diplomacy at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
The envoy had been a senior adviser at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs since 2014, according to a White House statement.
He has a solid background on East Asian affairs, having served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state and deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2006 to 2009, and was special representative for North Korea policy from 2012 to 2014.
His areas of expertise include democracy and human rights, while he was a senior adviser at the Foreign Service Institute's Leadership and Management School from 2005 to 2006, and acting assistant secretary at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour in 2005.
He served as deputy spokesman of the State Department and deputy assistant secretary for Public Affairs from 1995 to 1997. He was director of the State Department Operations Centre from 1992 to 1994. Earlier, he was posted to Australia, France, the UK and Zaire.
Davies has a Bachelor’s in foreign service from Georgetown University and a Master’s in security from the National Defence University.
