New envoys for Pakistan, China, UN in major MEA reshuffle

New Delhi: Key postings of Indian envoys to Pakistan, China, the UK and the UN have been done by the government in a major reshuffle at the top echelons of External Affairs Ministry.

While Navtej Sarna, presently secretary (west) in the ministry, will be next top envoy to London replacing Ranjan Mathai, Gautam Bambawale, India's ambassador to Bhutan, will take over as High Commissioner to Pakistan from TCA Raghavan, who is retiring on December 31st. However, Sarna is expected to take over only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK in mid-November.

Syed Akbaruddin, former high-profile Spokesperson of MEA and Joint Secretary in the XP division and currently Additional Secretary in charge of Indo-Africa Summit to be held in October, will be going as the next Permanent Representative of India to the UN, New York. He will replace Asoke Mukerji.

Vijay Gokhale, India's ambassador to Germany, will take over from Ashok Kantha in Beijing.

Other postings include that of Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east), as ambassador to Rome and Pankaj Saran, who will replace P S Raghavan in Moscow.

According to sources, most of these positions will be taken up by late December or early January.

At ministry headquarters, Amar Sinha and Amarendra Khatua will be the next Secretaries East and West respectively. While Sinha is currently India's ambassador to Afghanistan, Khatua is India's envoy to Argentina.

Harsh V Shringla, former Joint Secretary incharge of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar and currently Indian envoy to Bangkok, will be heading to crucial posting to Bangladesh.

Indian Ambassador to Mexico Sujan Chinoy will be going as Ambassador to Japan to replace Deepa Wadhwa. However, Wadhwa is expected to continue till the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe likely to be in early December.