KATHMANDU: India has appointed Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Indian Ambassador to Nepal, as new Foreign Secretary.
Kwatra, who is serving as Indian Ambassador to Nepal from March 2020, will succeed current Foreign Secretary Harsha Vardan Shringla.
Shringla is retiring on April 30.
The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of Kwatra to the post of foreign secretary upon the superannuation of Shringla on April 30, 2022.
Newly-appointed Foreign Secretary Kwatra has also served as the Ambassador of India to France from August 2017 till February 2020.
Kwatra, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1988, served as Third Secretary and then Second Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva until 1993.
During this period, Kwatra also obtained a diploma in International Relations from the Graduate School of International Studies in Geneva.
Earlier, Kwatra served as Desk Officer at Headquarters dealing with United Nations, and subsequently in the Diplomatic Missions in South Africa and Uzbekistan between 1993 and 2003.
Likewise, he also served as a Counsellor and later as the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Beijing, China from 2003 to 2006.
Kwatra also represented India at the SAARC Secretariat in Nepal as head of the Trade, Economy and Finance Bureau from 2006 to 2010.
Likewise, he has also served as Minister (Commerce) in the Embassy of India, Washington from May 2010 till July 2013.
Kwatra headed the Policy Planning & Research Division of the Ministry of External Affairs between July 2013 and October 2015, and also served as the head of Americas Division in the Foreign Ministry where he dealt with India’s relations with the United States and Canada.
Similarly, from October 2015 till August 2017, he served as Joint Secretary in the office of the Prime Minister of India.
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