Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s Ambassador to the US, has been appointed the new foreign secretary, according to a Personnel Ministry order issued on Monday, 23 December.
He will take over the charge of the foreign secretary on 29 January after incumbent Vijay Keshav Gokhale’s “two-year term” ends a day early, the order said.
The appointment has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the order by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Shringla’s Journey Over 35 Years
A 1984 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and a fluent French speaker, Shringla served as an ambassador to Bangkok from 2014 to 2016 and later as High Commissioner to Dhaka for two years.
In his current posting, Shringla came into prominence when he rebutted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's opinion piece in The New York Times, quite eloquently.
In a diplomatic career spanning 35 years, Ambassador Shringla also served at UNESCO in France, UN in New York besides Vietnam, Israel and South Africa.
Ambassador Shringla has served in the Ministry of External Affairs as Joint Secretary for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives. He also headed the UN political and SAARC divisions in the ministry. Shringla was director of the northern division, handling Nepal and Bhutan and deputy secretary of the western division, dealing with Europe.
Ambassador Shringla graduated from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, and worked in corporate and public sectors before joining IFS. He speaks French, Vietnamese and Nepalese apart from English and Indian languages.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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