Nina Hachigian, JD ’94, new Ambassador to ASEAN

Nina Hachigian, JD ’94, new Ambassador to ASEAN
Nina Hachigian, JD ’94 (Photo courtesy of U.S. State Department)

On September 19, 2014, Nina Hachigian, JD ’94, was sworn in as the United States ambassador for the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“With President Obama’s renewed focus on Asia, I am eager to use my experience to strengthen U.S. ties to ASEAN even more,” Hachigian said in a State Department announcement. “I want to work with you toward our shared goals of a peaceful and prosperous ASEAN region that provides economic opportunity, a cleaner environment, and fundamental freedoms for all its people.”
ASEAN was established in the 1960s, primarily to promote cooperation and peaceful economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region. Member countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Hachigian brings broad expertise and extensive knowledge of Asia to the position. Prior to this appointment, she was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy. From 1998 to 1999, she was on the White House’s National Security Council staff. She also served on the board of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. She has also published numerous op-eds, reports, articles, and book chapters on Asia policy; she edited Debating China: The U.S.-China Relationship in Ten Conversations and co-authored The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise and The Information Revolution in Asia.