Washington: US President Donald Trump has nominated noted Indian-American lawyer Manisha Singh to a key administration position in the State Department, making her in charge of economic diplomacy. Currently, Chief Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Dan Sullivan, Singh from Florida, if confirmed by the Senate would replace Charles Rivkin as the assistant secretary of state for economic affairs.  

The nomination was sent to the Senate yesterday.   The position has been laying vacant since January when Rivkin put in his papers as Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the US.   Singh, 45, is a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs and has served as a senior aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Singh's private sector experience includes practicing law at multinational law firms and working in-house at an investment bank.   She earned an LLM in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law, a JD from the University of Florida College of Law and a BA from the University of Miami at the age of 19.  

She also studied at the University of Leiden Law School in the Netherlands.   She is licensed to practice law in Florida, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia and speaks fluent Hindi.   Uttar Pradesh-born Singh moved to Florida along with parents as a child.   In an interview to Washington Examiner early this year, Singh said she worked on broader foreign policy component in the office of Senator Sullivan. PTI