UNITED NATIONS, April 20 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the nomination of U.S ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
U.S. President George W. Bush announced at the White House Monday the choice of Negroponte to serve in the key Baghdad post.
The secretary-general has been working with Negroponte "for a number of years now and holds him in high professional regard," said chief Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard, adding the secretary-general "looks forward to working with the ambassador in his new capacity in Baghdad. They will have a lot of work to do together."
The spokesman said Annan was "very comfortable with that appointment by President Bush."
From 1997 until his appointment to the United Nations, Negroponte had been executive vice president for Global Markets of The McGraw-Hill Cos. Before that, Negroponte served as Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines, held positions in the State Department and was deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs.
