United States Ambassador-Designate to Belize, Vinai Thummalapally, 54, arrived in Belize Tuesday morning to formally take up his appointment as the first Indian-American to be bestowed with such a diplomatic posting outside the United States.
Speaking with local media on his arrival at the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA), Thummalapally said, “It is a real honor that President Barack Obama has selected me to be the new US Ambassador to Belize. It is also an honor that the US Congress supported that decision and I look forward to presenting my credentials to the Governor-General here in Belize during this week.”
President Obama nominated him on June 11, 2009, and the US Senate confirmed the nomination on July 23.
On his arrival in Belize on Tuesday, Thummalapally also commented that, “Belize and the United States have had a wonderful relationship — a strong bilateral relationship — and during my tenure, I look forward to working with all Belizeans to further strengthen those ties in democracy, prosperity, and peace…”
The soon-to-be-installed US Ambassador notified that he and his wife, Barbara Thummalapally, who have lived in Colorado, had traveled from Washington, D.C., through Miami, and arrived in Belize to find a wonderful day.
Thummalapally’s bio says that the US Ambassador designate is originally from Hyderabad, India, and he moved to the U.S. in 1974 to pursue his engineering studies.
He has served in the US as president of MAM-A Inc., formerly Mitsui Advanced Media, the US’s leading manufacturer and distributor of archival recordable optical discs. Previously, he was plant manager for WEA Manufacturing, a division of Time Warner.