US President George W. Bush nominated on Monday John Negroponte, US ambassador to the United Nations, to be the first US ambassador to Iraq after the United States hands over sovereignty to Iraq on June 30.  

Bush made the announcement in a ceremony held in the Oval Office of the White House.

Paul Bremer, the current top US civilian official in Iraq, is expected to leave Iraq once the political transition is completed.

Negroponte, 64, has played an instrumental role in gaining unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demanded Iraq's Saddam regime to comply with United Nations mandates to disarm.

Negroponte has been the US ambassador to the United Nations since September 18, 2001 and has also held important positions at the State Department and the White House.

From 1960-1997, Negroponte was a member of the Career Foreign Service. Among his assignments, he was ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985, assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs from 1985-1987, deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs from 1987-1989, ambassador to Mexico from 1989-1993 and ambassador to the Philippines from 1993-1996.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2004)