WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles mayor and climate advocate Eric Garcetti to be the US ambassador to India, a country Washington sees as a key partner in its effort to push back against China’s expanding power and influence.

Garcetti, a Biden loyalist who co-chaired the successful Biden-Harris 2020 election campaign, has served as mayor of Los Angeles since 2013.

The White House biography accompanying the announcement of Garcetti’s nomination highlighted his role in co-founding the bipartisan “Climate Mayors” network and in leading more than 400 US mayors to adopt the Paris Climate agreement.

It said Garcetti is the current Chair of C40 Cities, which it described as “a network of 97 of the world’s biggest cities taking bold climate action,” and led the organization’s engagement and expansion in India and its global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.