It does not happen very often when a serving career diplomat gets two consecutive ambassadorial postings in P 5 countries. S Jaishankar did this in his last two postings as he went from Beijing to Washington as India’s ambassador.
Jaishankar’s possible successor in Washington is likely to be Arun Kumar Singh, India’s ambassador in France. The appointment is likely to be announced within a week, considering the renewed bonhomie in India-US relations and the just-concluded India visit of US President Barack Obama.
Arun Kumar Singh. Image courtesy Embassy of India in France website
The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier this month sent to the Prime Minister’s Office a list of six diplomats selected for ambassadorial postings in South Korea, Australia, Canada, Indonesia and Geneva, apart from for the post of Consular General in Atlanta, US. At that time of point there was no vacancy in Washington but now there is.
The PMO will be keen to fill the vacancy at the earliest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking personal interest in all top diplomatic appointments and it is no secret that though External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will definitely play a role in these appointments the final word will be that of the prime minister and he may not necessarily agree with the MEA list.
For example, in at least one of the above-mentioned six posts, the PMO does not appear inclined to release a high profile diplomat for a foreign posting and would keep him in New Delhi for around one more year.
PM Modi has two options with regard to finding a suitable ambassador in Washington: a political appointee or a career diplomat.
Several months ago there were speculations in media about a political appointee in United Kingdom and replacing career diplomat and retired foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai with a political person as India’s new high commissioner in London. The name being touted was that of senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta and such names may be touted once again.
However, PM Modi does not appear to have much faith in journalists and the only journalist favoured by his government with a senior post in the government set-up is A Suryaprakash who was made chairman of Prasar Bharati.
The Modi government would eventually go for a career diplomat as a host of intricate decisions are to be taken in context of India-US bilateral relations. Arun Singh appears to be the best choice for the job.
His track record is impeccable and formidable. First and foremost, he was India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington for nearly five years which itself is a huge asset for him. He knows precisely what is to be done as ambassador in Washington.
Secondly, he headed the Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran (PAI) division of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi one and a half decade ago at the most volatile time of India-Pakistan relations when PAI used to be the most important division in MEA. Today the Americas division and the East Asia division (which looks after China and Japan) are the two most important divisions in the MEA. Thus Singh has oodles of experience in dealing with Pakistan, one of the most important strategic imperatives for the Modi government.
I interacted very closely with Singh for years during this period and have always been impressed with his razor-sharp brain and hands-on, bold approach towards work, something which Modi values very highly.
Thirdly, he has done an ambassadorial stint in a key but underrated strategic partner of India – Israel. His Israel stint gives him cutting edge for the Washington posting.
Consider Arun Singh’s official profile as it appears on the homepage of Indian embassy in Paris as below.
"Arun K. Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979 after completing his Masters Degree in Economics from Delhi University and teaching at the University for two years.
"His first assignment abroad was at the Embassy of India, Moscow from 1981-1982, where he learnt Russian. Later, he served at the Indian Missions in Addis Ababa as Second Secretary from 1982-1985, and in Tokyo as First Secretary from 1985 – 1988. On returning to Delhi at the Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, he served as Deputy Secretary / Director dealing with East Asia and Pakistan Divisions from 1988-1991. From 1991-1993, he headed the Offices of the Foreign Secretary and the External Affairs Minister of India.
"Ambassador Singh served at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office, New York from 1993-1997 as Counsellor and handled multilateral social and economic negotiations. He served in the Indian Mission at Moscow again as Counsellor / Minister from 1997-2000. During his assignment in Delhi from 2000-2005, he served in the capacity of Joint Secretary dealing first with the United Nations Policy, and then Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran Divisions at the Ministry of External Affairs.
"Ambassador Singh served as Ambassador of India to Israel from April 2005 to September, 2008; and then as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India, Washington D.C from October 2008 to April 2013. He assumed his new assignment as Ambassador of India to France on 28 April, 2013.
"Ambassador Singh speaks Russian and Japanese and has some knowledge of French and Hebrew. He is married to Dr. Maina Chawla Singh; they have one daughter."
Recommended article: Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1yR6Lqe
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment