New Delhi, Aug. 28 (UNI) Ruchi Ghanashyam, an Indian Foreign Service officer of 1982 batch, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.
She is presently Secretary at the External Affairs Ministry headquarters in the Capital. She is expected to take up the assignment shortly, an official release said here on Tuesday.
Before taking up her present job as Secretary (West) at the ministry, she had successful stints as High Commissioner of India to South Africa with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Lesotho from October 2014 to April 2017.
During her diplomatic career, she served as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi heading the Europe West Division. She earlier served as High Commissioner of India in Ghana (March 2008 - October 2011), during which she was also concurrently accredited to Burkina Faso, Togo and Sierra Leone.
Earlier, Ms. Ghanshyam also served as Minister in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York from May 2004 to March 2008. She served as Director (Pakistan) at Headquarters in Delhi from August 2000 to March 2004 having earlier served as Counsellor (Political, Press & Info) in High Commission of India, Islamabad.
She also served in the Embassy of India in Brussels, Belgium, Kathmandu, Nepal and Damascus, Syria where she learnt Arabic, and as Under Secretary in New Delhi looking after Audio-Visual Publicity for the Ministry of External Affairs.
She will replace Y.K. Sinha who is presently India's High Commissioner to UK. During a career spanning 37 years, Mr. Sinha handled several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and in Indian diplomatic missions in South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America and the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations in New York. Earlier, he had also served as High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka from June 2013 to December 2016 before taking up his present assignment in London.
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