US Senate confirms 3 Indian-Americans to key government positions

WASHINGTON The Senate has unanimously confirmed three Indian-Americans to key government positions, including one as the Trump administration's czar on intellectual property - an area of sharp differences between the US and India.

The Senate confirmed Neil Chaterjee as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Vishal Amin as Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement Coordinator in the Trump administration.

Krishna Urs was confirmed as the US ambassador to Peru.

A career foreign service officer since 1986, Urs - after Nikki Haley - is the second Indian-American to have been selected for an ambassadorial position by the administration.

Haley, a two-term former governor of South Carolina, is the US ambassador to the United Nations and holds a cabinet- level position in the administration. She is the first Indian- American to do so in any US presidential administration.

As the new IP Czar, Amin would be responsible for enforcement of intellectual property, an area of sharp differences between India and the United States.

The US today retained India on its priority watch list this year for "lack of improvement" in the intellectual property (IP) framework.

In April, the US retained India on its priority watch list for "lack of improvement" in the IP framework. However, India had termed the report as an unilateral move by the US.

Amin is currently the senior counsel on the House Judiciary Committee.

"Vishal Amin has been a valued member of my staff and will continue to be a tireless advocate on behalf of America's innovators and creators," said Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

He has previously served in the administration of President George W Bush as associate director for Domestic Policy, and at the Department of Commerce as special assistant and associate director for policy in the Office of the Secretary, the White House said.