Former Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra has been named India's ambassador to the United States. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday that Kwatra is expected to take up his new role shortly. This appointment fills the vacancy left by Taranjit Sandhu, who retired in January.
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Vinay Kwatra's Diplomatic Career So Far
Kwatra's distinguished career in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) began in 1988. His early assignments included serving at India's Permanent Mission in Geneva. Between 1993 and 2003, he held the position of desk officer at the MEA headquarters in Delhi, dealing with the United Nations. Subsequently, he had diplomatic postings in South Africa and Uzbekistan.
From 2003 to 2006, Kwatra served as the counsellor and later as the deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Beijing. Following this, he represented India at the SAARC Secretariat in Nepal from 2006 to 2010, where he headed the trade, economy, and finance bureau. His tenure in Washington as minister (commerce) at the Indian embassy spanned from May 2010 to July 2013.
In the MEA, Kwatra led the policy planning and research division between July 2013 and October 2015 and later headed the Americas division. His experience also includes serving as the joint secretary in the office of the prime minister from October 2015 till August 2017. He was then appointed ambassador to France from August 2017 to February 2020, and subsequently served as ambassador to Nepal from March 2020 to April 2022.