Key postings of Indian envoys to countries like Pakistan, China, UK, UN, London, Germany, Rome and many more have been done by the government in a major reshuffle at the top echelons of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Syed Akbaruddin’s Appointment:
In the biggest jump within the ministry, Syed Akbaruddin has been appointed as India’s permanent representative in the UN in New York. He will replace Asoke Mukerji who will be retiring soon. The post is generally a secretary-level one, so Akbaruddin’s elevation shows that merit has been again one of the top considerations for posts. However, as per now, Akbaruddin will be in charge for India-Africa summit in October later this year.
About Syed Akbaruddin:
Syed Akbaruddin is an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (India) from April 2015. He is a former official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India from 2011 to April 2015. Diplomat Vikas Swarup took over the official spokesperson post from him. He also heads the External Publicity and Public Diplomacy division of the Ministry of External Affairs in capacity of Joint Secretary. He is also the Chief Coordinator for the India-Africa Summit in October 2015.
Other key Appointments:
- Gautam Bambawale, India’s ambassador to Bhutan, will take over from TCA Raghavan as high commissioner to Pakistan when the latter retires in December.
- Former ambassador to Israel, Navtej Sarna, secretary (west) in MEA will be India’s next high commissioner to London.
- Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east), will take over the responsibility as high commissioner to Rome.
- Vijay Gokhale will take over from Ashok Kantha to become India’s ambassador to Germany.
- Pankaj Saran will replace P S Raghavan in Moscow to become the ambassador there.
- At ministry headquarters, Amar Sinha, currently India’s ambassador to Afghanistan and Amarendra Khatua, India’s envoy to Argentina will be the next Secretaries East and West respectively.
- Harsh V Shringla, currently Indian envoy to Bangkok, will be heading to Bangladesh as the ambassador.
- Indian Ambassador to Mexico Sujan Chinoy will be going as Ambassador to Japan to replace Deepa Wadhwa.
