Ranjan Mathai assumes charge as foreign secretary
01 Aug 2011
New Delhi: Ranjan Mathai, former India ambassador to France, assumes charge as India's foreign secretary on Monday morning for a two-year term. He succeeds Ms Nirupama Rao, who moves to Washington as India's ambassador to the United States.
Mathai will be replaced by Rakesh Sood, India's ambassador to Nepal, as Delhi's envoy in Paris.
A 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Mathai has held a string of high-profile diplomatic positions, including ambassador to Israel February 1998 to June 2001, and to Qatar August 2001 to July 2005.
A veteran diplomat, he was joint secretary dealing with India's relations with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and the Maldives from January 1995 to February 1998 – a period which saw the vexatious Ganga River Waters Accord being inked with Dhaka.
As ambassador to France, Mathai is widely credited with putting Delhi's relationship with Paris at the same strategic level as that with Moscow.
As ambassador to Tel Aviv, he added an economic dimension to a relationship that was already strengthening in matter related to defence and security.
He has also served in the Indian embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels.
Mathai, who completed his post-graduate studies in political science at the University of Poona, was India's deputy high commissioner to Great Britain in London from August 2005 to January 2007.
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