Navtej Sarna appointed Ambassador to the US

The Union Government has appointed Navtej Sarna (59) was appointed as Ambassador to the United States. He will take over from Arun Kumar Singh, who has retired from the service.
In his new role he will face the task of engaging with the new administration in United States following the November 2016 Presidential poll.

About Navtej Sarna

• He is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1980 batch. In his career spanning 35 years, he has handled several important assignments at the MEA.
• Prior to this appointment he was serving as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
• He was appointed to India’s High Commissioner to UK in January 2016. Prior to it, he was serving as Secretary (West) in the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• He was among the longest-serving spokespersons of the MEA from 2002 to 2008.
• He also has authored many fiction and non-fiction books and the most recent being ‘Second Thoughts: On Books, Authors and the Writerly Life’ released in 2016.
• He was also India’s ambassador to Israel from 2008 to 2012. He had served at various Indian missions including in Warsaw, Moscow, Tehran, Geneva, Thimphu and Washington.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2016