Taranjit Singh Sandhu is India’s next High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Navtej Singh Sarna is the new Indian Ambassador to the United States of America. Sarna is currently serving as India’s High Commissioner to the UK. He succeeds Arun Kumar Singh, who retired from the service last month.
“Shri Navtej Singh Sarna (IFS: 1980) has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the United States of America,†Ministry of External Affairs said in a media statement.
“He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,†the statement added.
Jalandhar (Punjab)-born Sarna would be representing India at a time when the US is heading toward the 2016 Presidential Election. He would play an instrumental role to enhance the bilateral relations between the world’s two powerful democracies. Both the US and India enjoy close trade and defence ties.
59-year-old Sarna has served in various Indian missions, including Moscow, Warsaw, Thimphu, Geneva, Teheran and Washington, DC. He is a seasoned diplomat and a prolific author. His fictional and non-fictional writings include: Folk Tales of Poland, We Weren’t Lovers Like That, The Book of Nanak, The Exile, and Second Thoughts: On Books, Authors and the Writerly Life.
Sarna, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1980 batch, is well-versed in several languages including Russian and Polish.
One of the longest-serving spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, he would serve as the 26th Indian Ambassador to the United States of America.
In a parallel development, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington DC has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Sri Lanka.
“Shri Taranjit Singh Sandhu (IFS: 1988) has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,†the Ministry of External Affairs’ statement read.
Ambassador Sandhu joined the Washington, DC mission in June 2013.