Seasoned diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra, currently a joint secretary in the Prime Ministers Office, has been appointed as the next ambassador to France.
Announcing his appointment, the External Affairs Ministry said Kwatra is expected to take up his assignment shortly.
A 1988-batch foreign service officer, Kwatra will succeed Mohan Kumar, who is retiring.
Apart from having experience of dealing with the UN organisations such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), he has served in Indian diplomatic missions in China and the US.
He has also held the position of joint secretary in-charge of the counter-terrorism division in the MEA.
He has masters in science and also holds a diploma in international relations.
Kwatra speaks French and has a knowledge of Russian works and he is very fluent in Hindi.
Kwatra was considered to be the private secretary on Prime minister Narendra Modi but he was later replaced by another IFS officer Sanjiv Singla.
As a diplomat, Kwatra’s first assignment was in Geneva and later he dealt with United Nations organisations such as International Labour Organisation, World health Organisation and so on.
He was posted in Consulate in Durban of south Africa where he was mainly responsible for commercial and economic work.
Later Vinay Mohan Kwatra was posted to Deputy China of Mission to the Embassy in China, where he worked on trade and commerce.
Kwatra served at the Indian Embassy in Tashkent in the economic and political wing.
Vinay Kwatra also served as director in MEA where he dealt with India’s relations with Iran and Afghanistan. He also handled India’s development work in Afghanistan.
Vinay Mohan Kwatra worked as director and head of commerce, trade and finance issues at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
In May 2010, Kwatra moved to Washington DC where he served as the head of the commerce wing in the Embassy of India.
After taking over as OSD in PMO, Kwatra was assigned to monitor PM’s visits abroad.
