US President George W Bush has announced his nomination of Christopher J Lafleur as the new American ambassador to Malaysia.

The United States embassy in Kuala Lumpur said in a statement today that Washington expects Lafleur nomination to be confirmed by the US Senate later this year.

According to the statement, Lafleur presently serves as the Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies at the US Council on Foreign Relations.

He joined the US State Department in 1973 and has served in US embassies in France and Japan, with the US mission to the United Nations and also with the American Institute in Taiwan.

Lafleur has also represented the US State Department in discussions with Japan and South Korea over the future of the three-country alliance.

The present US ambassador in Malaysia, Marie T Huhtala, has been here since September 2001.