NEW DELHI: Vinay Mohan Kwatra, India’s envoy to Nepal has been named as the next Foreign Secretary of India in place of current Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is superannuating by the end of this month.
1988-batch IFS officer Ambassador Kwatra holds an M.Phil degree in Finance and brings in over 34 years of experience as a career diplomat. He had served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Beijing, China. From 2006 to 2010, he represented India at the SAARC Secretariat in Nepal as head of the Trade, Economy and Finance Bureau.
He steered the Policy Planning & Research Division of the Ministry of External Affairs and later served as the head of Americas Division in the Foreign Ministry. Between 2015 and 2017, Ambassador Kwatra served as Joint Secretary in the PMO, before assuming the role of the Ambassador of India to France.
He has been in charge of the Indian mission in Nepal since March 2020. During his tenure, Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba arrived in India, that was his first destination after taking over the reins of Nepal. In his joint address with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PM Deuba stated, “For Nepal relations with India is highly important. We look upon tremendous transformations.”.