Vinay Mohan Kwatra, who retired as India’s Foreign Secretary on July 14, 2024, will now serve as India’s new Ambassador to the United States, filling a position vacant since January 2024, after Ambassador Taranjit Sandhu’s retirement.
After retiring, Ambassador Sandhu proceeded to contest in the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar constituency on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. However, he lost the election.
Kwatra who served as the 34th Foreign Secretary from 2022-2024, is a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer and brings over three decades of foreign policy experience.
India’s Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar commended Kwatra’s “dedication and many contributions in the field of foreign policy and national security,” adding over the last decade “he helped strategize and execute many of our key policies.”
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Prior to assuming the role of Foreign Secretary, Kwatra served as India’s Ambassador to Nepal from 2020-2022, and India’s Ambassador to France from 2017-2020. He also held a position of Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2015-2017.
Kwatra has previously served as Minister (Commerce) at the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. from 2010-2013.
Following Kwatra’s departure from New Delhi, former Deputy National Security Advisor, Vikram Misri, assumed the role of India’s new Foreign Secretary on July 15th.
