Washington, Dec 09: The White House is urging the US Senate to act as quickly as possible on some 100 pending presidential nominations to important posts, including ambassadorial nominee for India. The "critical" ambassadorial posts for which the White House wanted fast action were Saudi Arabia, Syria, Uzbekistan, Tunisia and Morocco, apart from India, according to White House spokesman Scott Mcclellan.

Such appointments are generally a lengthy process. First, the US President announces his "intention to nominate."

After the nominee has been cleared by the FBI and other agencies, he announces nomination and sends it to the Senate. The senate holds a foreign relations committee hearing at which the nominee testifies. It then sends the nomination to the Senate, which then acts. The last US envoy to India was Robert D Blackwill who left in August.

Bureau Report