Akbaruddin was the former spokesperson of the MEA.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Former spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Syed Akbaruddin has been appointed as the new Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in an official statement, informed that “Syed Akbaruddin, currently Additional Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at New York.”
Akbaruddin will replace Asoke Kumar Mukerji. A 1985 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Akbaruddin has served as the official spokesperson of the MEA from 2011 to April 2015.
In September itself he was slotted to be the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi selected him to be the chief co-coordinator of the recently concluded Indo-Africa Forum Summit, delaying his departure to New York.
He has served at the International Atomic Energy Agency on deputation for four years and was the director at Foreign Secretary’s Office from 2004 to 2005. He is considered as an expert on the West Asia issues.
In the capacity of India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, his primary role would be to speed up the efforts of India to obtain permanent membership of the UN Security Council.