Vinay Kwatra, envoy to Nepal, named next foreign secretary | Latest News India

New Delhi: Career diplomat Vinay Kwatra, who has considerable expertise in dealing with the US and China, was on Monday named India’s next foreign secretary, and will take over a time when the external affairs ministry is grappling with a host of challenges.

Kwatra, currently the ambassador to Nepal, will succeed Harsh Shringla, who is set to retire at the end of April. Kwatra’s appointment as the foreign secretary was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), according to an official notification.

For the past few weeks, much of the speculation about Shringla’s successor has centred around Kwatra and Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s ambassador to the US. Sandhu was perceived in some circles as the front-runner and Kwatra as the dark horse but the latter pulled ahead in recent days.

Kwatra is understood to have superseded at least eight Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers. Among them were Gaitri Issar Kumar, the high commissioner to the UK who is from the 1986 batch, Ruchira Kamboj, the ambassador to Bhutan, Ajay Bisaria, the high commissioner to Canada, and Sangeeta Bahadur, the high commissioner to Malta, who are all from the 1987 batch.

An officer of the 1988 batch of the IFS, Kwatra served as joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office from October 2015 to August 2017. He was then appointed the ambassador to France and served in Paris till February 2020. The following month, he was appointed as the envoy to Nepal.

Kwatra will bring more than three decades of wide-ranging expertise, including experience in handling relations with the US and China as well as multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, to his new position.

Soon after joining the IFS, Kwatra served as third secretary and second secretary in India’s permanent mission in Geneva during 1988-93, where he handled work related to UN agencies and the UN Human Rights Commission.

During 1993-2003, he served as desk officer at the foreign ministry dealing with the UN, and also did stints in Indian missions in South Africa and Uzbekistan. During 2003-06, he served as counsellor and deputy chief of mission in the embassy in Beijing.

From 2006 to 2010, he represented India at the Saarc Secretariat in Nepal as head of the trade, economy and finance bureau. From May 2010 to July 2013, he served as minister (commerce) in the Indian embassy in Washington.

Between July 2013 and October 2015, Kwatra headed the policy planning and research division of the external affairs ministry and then served as head of the Americas division, where he dealt with ties with the US and Canada.

Kwatra, who has a diploma in international relations from the Graduate School of International Studies in Geneva, will be taking over when the external affairs ministry is grappling with challenges ranging from the nearly two-year-long military standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He will also have a key role in multilateral engagements, with India currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and engaged in preparations to host the G20 in 2023.