REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Kyrgyz Republic
CANDIDATE: Donald Lu
Donald Lu is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who is currently serving as Ambassador to Albania. Ambassador Lu also served three times as Deputy Chief of Mission, including in India (2010-2013), one of our largest and most complex Embassies. He is known for being one of the Department’s most talented leaders, respected both for his strong analytical skills and for his mentoring and motivational skills. Ambassador Lu is an experienced negotiator, an accomplish team builder, and has robust substantive experience in Central Asia, all of which make him well qualified to serve as Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.
Previously Ambassador Lu served as Chargé d’Affaires (2009-2010) and DCM (2007-2009) in Baku, Azerbaijan, and as DCM in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2003-2006). Earlier in his career he was assigned as Deputy Director in the Office of Central Asian and South Caucasus Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs (2001-2003), Special Assistant to the Ambassador for the Newly Independent States in the Office of the Secretary of State (2000-2001), Political Officer in New Delhi, India (1997-2000), Special Assistant to the Ambassador in New Delhi, India (1996-1997), Consular Officer in Tbilisi, Georgia (1994-1996), and Political Officer in Peshawar, Pakistan (1992-1994). He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.
Ambassador Lu earned a Master of Arts Degree in International and Public Affairs, as well as a Bachelor of Arts Degree in the same discipline, from Princeton University. He speaks and reads Albanian, Russian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, West African Krio, Hindi and Urdu. He is the recipient of the Rockwell Anthony Schnabel Award (2017) for advancing U.S. – European Union relations and also has received four individual Superior Honor Awards and two individual Meritorious Honor Awards over the course of his career.