NEW DELHI: India has officially announced that former Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra is India’s Ambassador to the USA.He is expected to assume charge shortly. Kwatra was working on an extension post-retirement as the Foreign Secretary until July 14th, following which Vikram Misri was appointed as Foreign Secretary.Kwatra is a career diplomat, however, he is a political appointee for his upcoming assignment.India’s last Ambassador to the US was Taranjit Singh Sandhu who retired in January this year and since February the position has been lying vacant.Kwatra post retirement had an extension until October this year. A 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, he has served in the PMO and also Indian embassies in China, the US, Russia, Durban and also France.He has also served as the head of economic, trade, and finance issues in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and worked in the India’s development programme in Afghanistan by the MEA.His appointment comes at a crucial time when US is going to elections. Besides, there is a controversy that gripped India’s diplomatic sector when the US Justice Department indicted Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta for an alledged murder-to-hire case. Gupta is presently imprisoned in the US after he was extradited from Prague on request of the US.
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