New Delhi: Ranjan Mathai, India’s ambassador to France will be succeeding Nirupama Rao as the next foreign secretary.
Mathai, a 1974-batch IFS officer, will assume charge from 1August and will be there for a term of two years, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.
After completing post graduate studies in Political Science at the University of Pune, Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974.
Ranjan Mathai will succeed Nirupama Rao. Miguel Medina/AFP
He has served in Indian embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels.
As joint secretary in the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi from January 1995 to February 1998, he headed the division dealing with India’s relations with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives.
He also served as Indian Ambassador to Israel from February 1998 to June 2001 and was the Indian Ambassador in Qatar from August 2001 to July 2005.
He held the post of Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK in London from August 2005 to January 2007.
PTI