India has appointed Vikram Doraiswami, currently serving as its High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, as the next Ambassador to China.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that Doraiswami, a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, will soon take charge of his new role in Beijing. He will succeed Pradeep Kumar Rawat.
The move comes at a time when India and China are working to improve relations following the prolonged border tensions in eastern Ladakh over the past four years.
Several other diplomatic reshuffles have also been announced. Secretary (East) P. Kumaran will be posted to London, Additional Secretary Puneet Agarwal will head to Thailand, and Nagesh Singh will move from Thailand to Australia. Meanwhile, Pranay Verma, currently India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, is set to take up a position in Brussels. The post in Dhaka is likely to remain vacant for now, with the possibility of a political appointment.
Doraiswami joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1992 after a brief stint in journalism. He holds a master’s degree in history from Delhi University. During his early career, he served as Third Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Hong Kong in 1994, where he also completed a diploma in Chinese language studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
He later served in Beijing from 1996 to 2000. Upon returning to New Delhi, he took on the role of Deputy Chief of Protocol before moving to the Prime Minister’s Office, where he served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.
