NEW DELHI: India’s ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra will take over as the new foreign secretary upon incumbent Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s retirement later this month, the government announced Monday.
Kwatra was tipped to become the foreign secretary as the senior most IFS officer and will bring with him vast experience accumulated from key positions that the 1988-batch officer has held over 34 years. Shringla is likely to be appointed a special coordinator for G20 after his retirement, an official source said.
Described by his colleagues as a low-key but solid, conventional diplomat, Kwatra has served in Washington, Beijing and also the Indian consulate in Karachi in 1993 before it was shut down. He has served as an ambassador to a P-5 country, France, and also Nepal, a key neighbour. He was appointed ambassador in Kathmandu in the middle of a flare-up of the border dispute that saw Nepal controversially redrawing its political map. After a while though, both the countries managed to keep a lid on the dispute and prevented it from coming in the way of bilateral cooperation. They reaffirmed commitment to bilateral cooperation, particularly in energy and connectivity, during the visit of Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba last week and agreed to address the boundary issue “responsibly’’ and without politicising it.
Kwatra has also headed the Americas division of the ministry of external affairs, worked as joint secretary in prime minister’s office (2015-2017) and also served in the Saarc Secretariat. Before becoming joint secretary in PMO he also worked as a translator for PM. “He’s multilingual and that’s one of his strengths. He is fluent in English and French apart from Hindi,” said a senior diplomat.
According to Kwatra’s official biodata, after joining the service in 1988, he served as third secretary and then second secretary in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva until 1993, where apart from learning the French language, he handled work relating to the UN-specialized agencies, as also the Human Rights Commission.
Between 2003 and 2006, he served as Counsellor and later as the deputy chief of mission in the Indian embassy in Beijing. From May 2010 till July 2013, he served as minister (commerce) in the Indian embassy in Washington.
Kwatra was tipped to become the foreign secretary as the senior most IFS officer and will bring with him vast experience accumulated from key positions that the 1988-batch officer has held over 34 years. Shringla is likely to be appointed a special coordinator for G20 after his retirement, an official source said.
Described by his colleagues as a low-key but solid, conventional diplomat, Kwatra has served in Washington, Beijing and also the Indian consulate in Karachi in 1993 before it was shut down. He has served as an ambassador to a P-5 country, France, and also Nepal, a key neighbour. He was appointed ambassador in Kathmandu in the middle of a flare-up of the border dispute that saw Nepal controversially redrawing its political map. After a while though, both the countries managed to keep a lid on the dispute and prevented it from coming in the way of bilateral cooperation. They reaffirmed commitment to bilateral cooperation, particularly in energy and connectivity, during the visit of Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba last week and agreed to address the boundary issue “responsibly’’ and without politicising it.
Kwatra has also headed the Americas division of the ministry of external affairs, worked as joint secretary in prime minister’s office (2015-2017) and also served in the Saarc Secretariat. Before becoming joint secretary in PMO he also worked as a translator for PM. “He’s multilingual and that’s one of his strengths. He is fluent in English and French apart from Hindi,” said a senior diplomat.
According to Kwatra’s official biodata, after joining the service in 1988, he served as third secretary and then second secretary in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva until 1993, where apart from learning the French language, he handled work relating to the UN-specialized agencies, as also the Human Rights Commission.
Between 2003 and 2006, he served as Counsellor and later as the deputy chief of mission in the Indian embassy in Beijing. From May 2010 till July 2013, he served as minister (commerce) in the Indian embassy in Washington.
