He replaced Assistant Secretary of State Christina B Rocca.

According to the State Department, Richard A Boucher was sworn in as the new assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs on February 21.

The State Department recently transferred policy responsibility for five Central Asian nations -- Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan -- from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to the Bureau of South Asian Affairs.

The newly expanded and improved bureau was renamed as Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

The expanded bureau will now deal with US foreign policy and US relations with the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the course of his career, Boucher served as the Department of State's spokesman and deputy spokesman under six secretaries of state and has served as chief of mission twice overseas.

In 2005, Boucher became the longest serving assistant secretary for public affairs in the Department of State's history. He began his most recent tenure as spokesman for the state department in May 2000 under Secretary Albright and continued as spokesman throughout the tenures of Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice until June 2005.

He had previously served as the department's deputy spokesman under Secretary Baker, starting in 1989, and became the spokesman for Secretary Eagleburger in August 1992 and served for Secretary Christopher until June 1993.

He served as US ambassador to Cyprus from October 1993 to June 1996 and as the consul general in US Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1996 to 1999.

He led US efforts as the US senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) from July 1999 to April 2000.

A career foreign service officer, Boucher entered the Foreign Service in 1977. His early career focused on economic affairs, China and Europe.

Boucher was born in Bethesda, Maryland in 1951. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in 1973 from Tufts University and did his graduation in economics at George Washington University. He speaks French and Chinese. He is married and has two children.