Vijay Gokhale takes over from S Jaishankar as foreign secretary

Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale took charge as foreign secretary of India this morning on the retirement of his predecessor S Jaishankar.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, "An early morning start! Shri Vijay Gokhale, an Indian Foreign Service Officer of the 1981 batch, took over as Foreign Secretary of India today morning…"

Considered an expert on China, Gokhale had played a crucial role in negotiating the disengagement understanding between India and China that ended the 73-day long Doklam stand-off last year.

On 1 January the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Gokhale's appointment to the post of foreign secretary.

He took over from Dr S Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer, who was appointed foreign secretary in January 2015 for two years, and got an extension of a year with his tenure ending on January 28, 2018.

The tenure of Sujata Singh had abruptly been curtailed just a few days ahead of her retirement to accommodate Jaishankar.

Gokhale was serving as the secretary (economic relations) in the ministry of external affairs before taking over his current posting.

He was India's Ambassador to China from 20 January 2016 to 21 October 2017. His previous diplomatic assignments include postings in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York.

He has also served as deputy secretary (finance), director (China & East Asia) and joint secretary (East Asia) during his stints at the headquarters of the ministry of external affairs.

He was also high commissioner of India to Malaysia from January 2010 to October 2013 and ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany from October 2013 to January 2016.

Jaishankar, appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 January 2015, was India's longest-serving foreign secretary in four decades.

Jaishankar will be remembered for negotiating India's civil nuclear agreement with the United States. The deal took more than three years to come to fruition, but it was finally signed in October 2008 and signalled a watershed in US-India relations.

During Modi's visit to the US in September 2014, Jaishankar stage-managed the Prime Minister's grand Madison Square Garden event, which was attended by over 18,000 people. The visit also set the stage for then US President Barack Obama's visit to India as the chief guest on Republic Day.

As foreign secretary, Jaishankar helped negotiate a peaceful resolution to the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam under the guiding principle that differences should not become disputes between the neighbours.

He paved the way for Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017, the first by an Indian prime minister, and was instrumental in brokering a strategic partnership between the two countries.

The final feather in his cap is the signing of a revised agreement with Seychelles for development of military infrastructure on Assomption Island, which further consolitdates India's influence in the Indo-Pacific amid China's growing naval presence in the region.