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Susan Rice (L), new U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, presents her credential to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Jan. 26, 2009. |
U.S. President Barack Obama assured his "strong support" to the United Nations when Ban and Obama discussed major international issues in their phone talks last Friday.
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Susan Rice (L), new U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, shakes hands with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after presenting her credential at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Jan. 26, 2009. |
She told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 14that she would work to strengthen the world body as an "indispensable if imperfect" institution.
"The UN is not a cure-all; we must be clear-eyed about the problems, challenges and frustrations of the institution," she said. "But it is a global institution that can address a tremendous range of critical American and global interests."
Confirmed by the U.S. Senate last Thursday, Rice is expected to help mend the rocky diplomatic marriage between the United States and the United Nations.
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Susan Rice (2nd, L), new U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (1st, R) during a meeting after presenting her credential at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Jan. 26, 2009. |
Rice, 44, is not related to the former U.S. state of secretary, Condoleezz Rice, 54.
During the Clinton administration, Rice worked for the National Security Council and the State Department, primarily on issues related to Africa.
She grew up in Washington D.C., the U.S. capital, and is a daughter of an education scholar and a former Federal Reserve Board governor. A Rhodes scholar, she holds degrees from Stanford and Oxford.
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Photo taken on Jan. 26, 2009 shows Susan Rice, new U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States |