Former foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra appointed ambassador to US

The government has appointed former foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra as India’s ambassador to the US, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the MEA said.

An Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer, Kwatra retired as India’s 34th foreign secretary earlier this month. 

The post of Indian ambassador to the US had been lying vacant after Taranjit Singh Sandhu’s retirement in January.

Kwatra’s appointment comes close to the elections in the US. Media reports earlier said the government was looking to send a veteran diplomat to Washington as its envoy.

He has served as a diplomat for over 32 years and became foreign secretary just before retiring from service.  

Kwatra, a vegetarian and teetotaller, holds a Masters in Science (M.Sc.) degree and is fluent in French and Russian, along with Hindi and English.

He also obtained a diploma in International Relations in Geneva from the Graduate School of International Studies.

After joining the service in 1988, Kwatra served as third secretary and then second secretary in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva until 1993. He has also served at the Indian consulate in Durban, China, and Russia, in the MEA handling India’s development program in Afghanistan; and as head of economic, trade, and finance issues in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Kwatra has headed the policy planning and research division of the MEA and later served as the head of the Americas Division in the Foreign between July 2013 and October 2015. 

He has also served as minister (commerce) in the Indian embassy in Washington from May 2010 till July 2013.

He was joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office between 2015 and 2017, after which he was sent to France as ambassador until February 2020. He had been serving as Indian ambassador to Nepal when he was appointed foreign secretary in April 2022. 

Kwatra, who took over as foreign secretary on 1 May 2022, was given an extension twice and was due to retire in October 2024. 

The government announced Vikram Misri as foreign secretary earlier this month, freeing Kwatra to become the Indian envoy to the US.