United States ambassador-designate to Malaysia, Kamala Lakhdhir has arrived in the country and assumed her position.

This was confirmed in a statement issued by the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Kamala Lakhdhir replaces Joseph Y Yun.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lakhdhir received her Master's degree from the National War College in 2007, the US Embassy website says.

She was the executive assistant to the under-secretary for political affairs from November 2011 until October 2015.

The ambassador-designate was the US consul-general in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 2009 until November 2011.

From 2007 to 2009, she was the director of the Office of Maritime South-East Asia in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, which is responsible for US relations with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Timor-Leste.

She had also served at the US embassies in Riyadh and Jakarta.

- Bernama