US President Joe Biden has nominated Marc Evans Knapper, who serves as Senior Foreign Service member in Asia for years, as new ambassador to Vietnam, the White House reported.

Marc Evans Knapper nominated as US Ambassador to Vietnam. Photo: US Department of State

Marc Evans Knapper, currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan and Korea in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State, will succeed Daniel J. Kritenbrink.

Prior to this position, Knapper worked in the US embassies in South Korea, Japan, and Iraq for years.

Between 2004 and 2007, he served as political affairs counselor at the US embassy in Hanoi.

Knapper demonstrated his proficiency in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

The outgoing ambassador Kritenbrink is on the list of nominees for the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

During his term over the last three years, Kritenbrink has stressed special importance on war legacies to make great progress in solving issues relating to dioxin, unexploded ordnance (UXO), people with disabilities, search and collect remains of Vietnamese missing in action soldiers.

Vietnam and the US have signed a number of trade deals worth dozens of billions dollars, making the US is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and the 11th biggest investor.