THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                           (Ottawa, Canada)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                    October 8, 1999

           PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES AMBASSADOR ALAN P. LARSON 
      UNDER SECRETARY OF ECONOMIC, BUSINESS AND AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS 
                       AT THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

     The President today announced his intent to nominate 

Ambassador Alan P. Larson as Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs at the Department of State.

Mr. Alan P. Larson, of Webster City, Iowa currently serves as Acting Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs. He has held a number of senior economic positions at the Department of State including Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to the OEOCD in Paris from 1990 to 1993, and earlier worked in the economic and commercial sections of Embassies in Jamaica, Zaire and Sierra Leone.

Ambassador Larson received a B.A. in 1971, a M.A. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1982 from the University of Iowa.

The Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs is responsible for providing the Secretary of State with a broad prospective on the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy and on various issues with which it is concerned, such as international trade, monetary affairs, investment, debt, the environment, transportation and energy.

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