New Delhi: Veteran diplomat Vikram Misri, India’s former envoy to Beijing and an expert on China, took over as India's foreign secretary. He succeeds Vinay Mohan Kwatra who completed his tenure and has been nominated as India's next ambassador to the US.
“TeamMEA extends a warm welcome to Foreign Secretary Misri and wishes him a successful tenure ahead,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) posted on X. Misri will make his first foreign visit to Bhutan on June 19 to co-chair the bilateral Development Cooperation Talks on the Himalayan nation's 13th five-year plan.
An officer of the 1989 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Misri last held the post of deputy national security adviser. Additionally, he has earlier served as India’s ambassador to Spain (2014-2016) and Myanmar (2016-2018), along with having terms in many nation’s missions, including Pakistan, the US, Germany, Belgium and Sri Lanka.
He is seen as a natural fit as the foreign secretary in view of his expertise on China, which remains the foremost foreign policy challenge for India. He also served as private secretary to Prime Ministers I K Gujral (1997-1998), Manmohan Singh (2012-2014), and Narendra Modi (May to July 2014).
