Diplomat praised for his insights and “depth of thinking.”
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. India Business Council gave a farewell reception for the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India Arun Kumar Singh, who is leaving for Paris as Ambassador of India to France.
Dozens, among them officials from USIBC member companies and a number of Indian Americans, attended the cocktail reception held at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building, Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, USIBC president Ron Somers and Susan Esserman, who serves on the organization’s board of directors, paid glowing tributes to Singh.
“He has been a real policymaker at a pivotal time in our relationship, and he stands out among his peers in the diplomatic corps here for the quality of his insights and the depth of his thinking,” Esserman, a former Deputy US Trade Representative, said in her toast in honor of the Indian diplomat. “Throughout his four and half years as Deputy Chief of Mission, he nurtured the U.S. India strategic partnership to one that is durable and lasting, and that will be his legacy.”
In his address, Singh said the success of India is in the U.S. Interests. “The U.S. engagement for the success of India would certainly be in U.S. and global interests and economic engagement should also be pursued [in that context],” he said.
Singh, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979, has been the Deputy Chief of Mission since October 2008. His previous assignments include serving as ambassador to Israel from April 2005 to September 2008.
The USIBC is a business advocacy group that represents American companies investing in India and Indian companies doing business in the United States.