Washington, Oct 11: Describing Indian-American Nikki Haley as an "extraordinary person", President Donald Trump has said the outgoing US ambassador to the UN is "going to make a lot of money" in the private sector, which she intends to join.
Haley, 46, the first Indian-American to hold a Cabinet-ranking position in any US presidential administration, tendered her resignation Tuesday, which Trump accepted.
She had hinted in her resignation letter that she is headed to the private sector after two years at the UN and, before that, six years as South Carolina's governor.
She is likely to stay in the position till the year-end so that her successor could be nominated and confirmed by the Senate. Trump exuded confidence that Haley would return to his administration in some capacity at some point.
"Nikki is going to be here until the end of the year. Nikki is our friend. She has been great. I want whoever it is to spend some time with Nikki before Nikki goes out and gets herself a job, and hopefully does -- she's going to make a lot of money. And I think Nikki will come back in some form too. But she's an extraordinary person, good person," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump told reporters that he was considering the name of four-five persons as her replacement. One of them being Dina Powell (45), the former deputy national security adviser to Trump.
Asked about the timing of Haley's resignation, that too just before the mid-term polls, Trump said nothing much should be read into this.
"There's no good time. I mean, there could be no good time. She told me about this a long time ago. And, frankly, it's almost four weeks. So, it's not that bad. No, I don't think so at all. I thought it was very elegantly done," he said.
"If she waited until after, then they'd say, 'Oh, she '. You know, if we win, they'd say, why is she doing it. And if we lose, they'd say, oh, well, that's obvious why she's doing it. Okay? So there's really no good time to do it," the President added.
Trump said Haley spoke to him about it some six months ago. "She and I had spoken at least six months ago. Maybe even a year ago, we had conversations. She wanted to be here for about two years. I think the point really was, last week at the United Nations, she wanted to get through that and then go, probably into the private sector for a while," he said.
The Washington Post on Wednesday said that Haley served in the Trump administration and departed with most of her dignity intact. "That, in and of itself, is what makes her extraordinary," the daily said.
At the Pentagon, Defence Secretary James Mattis said Haley had been a wonderful representative for the US. "She has been just a tremendous asset to those of us here in the Department of Defence," he said, adding that he worked very closely with her.
"We saw ourselves in many occasions collaborating together on how we would deal with certain issues, alongside the secretary of state. She's done yeoman's work up there, and I would just tell you that she may be moving on but losing our respect one bit," Mattis said.
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Mangaluru: An international workshop on clinical neuroimmunology will be held in Mangaluru on March 7 and 8 at Avishkar Hall of KS Hegde Hospital, ABSMIDS.
The two-day academic programme is being organised by the Centre for Advanced Neurological Research of Nitte (Deemed to be University). The event is expected to bring together neurologists, clinicians and researchers from India and several other countries.
According to the organisers, the workshop aims to improve the diagnostic skills of practising neurologists through exposure to advanced imaging methods, visual diagnostic tools and biomarker analysis used in the diagnosis of neuroimmunological disorders.
The programme will feature hands-on training sessions and demonstration-based learning. Activities will include live Optical Coherence Tomography workshops, video-assisted demonstrations and interactive discussions with experts from Canada, the United States, South Asia and the UAE.
The workshop is being conducted under the leadership of Dr. Lekha Pandit, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Centre for Advanced Neurological Research at KS Hegde Medical Academy, Nitte (Deemed to be University), who is serving as the course director for the programme.
Dr. Asha Kishore, Director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Centre at Aster Medicity, Kochi, will inaugurate the workshop as the chief guest. The inaugural function will be presided over by Prof. M. S. Moodithaya, Vice-Chancellor of Nitte (Deemed to be University).
Registrar Dr. Harsha Halahalli and Dr. Sandeep Rai, Dean of KS Hegde Medical Academy, will also be present at the inaugural ceremony.
