The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Bill Clinton's nominee for the vacant post of ambassador to Switzerland. Richard Fredericks is to succeed Madeleine Kunin in the Swiss federal capital, Berne.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Bill Clinton's nominee for the vacant post of ambassador to Switzerland. Richard Fredericks is to succeed Madeleine Kunin in the Swiss federal capital, Berne.

Fredericks, 54, comes from a mainly business background and has known Clinton since their student days at Georgetown University in Washington, where they shared a room.

Fredericks then went on to study business at Columbia University. He joined Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities in San Francisco in 1977 and is now senior managing director. During his time, he has been involved in a number of banking mergers.

Fredericks has been a strong financial supporter of the Democratic Party.
His close friendship with Clinton and the $600,000 in donations his family has given to the Democratic Party since 1992 have clearly contributed to the posting, analysts say.

Fredericks said he would seek to further strengthen political and economic ties between Switzerland and the U.S. and would be closely involved in the joint economic commission that has been set up between the two countries.

Frederick's knowledge of economic issues and the banking world will make him particularly suited to his new post, said Swiss ambassador to Washington, Alfred Defago.

Clinton nominated Fredericks for the Berne posting at the start of July and Fredericks was later confirmed by the Senate foreign relations committee.

But his confirmation was delayed because of a political row in which a Republican Senator blocked the approval of several ambassadors – a dispute that was settled a few days ago.

Fredericks is the third ambassador to Berne in Clinton's two terms of office. His predecessor, Madeleine Kunin, who has already left Berne, was highly involved in efforts to smooth over the differences last year between the U.S. and Switzerland over dormant Holocaust-era assets in Swiss banks.

Fredericks is still an unknown political quantity. He has no political background and does not speak foreign languages. It is not yet clear when he will take up his post.

From staff and wire reports.

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