Vikram Misri, A China Expert, Takes Charge As India's New Foreign Secretary

Seasoned diplomat Vikram Misri, widely regarded as an expert on China and national security, assumed charge as India's new foreign secretary on Monday.

Mr Misri, a 1989-batch Indian Foreign Service officer who was serving as the deputy national security advisor, succeeded Vinay Kwatra.

The 59-year-old assumed charge of the key position at a time India is looking to navigate various geo-political challenges, including its frosty ties with China following the lingering eastern Ladakh border row and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

External affairs Minister S Jaishankar congratulated Misri on assuming his new responsibility. "Congratulate Foreign Secretary @VikramMisri as he assumes his new responsibility today. Wish him a productive and successful tenure," he said on X.

Mr Misri served in various capacities at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in the Prime Minister's Office and in various Indian missions in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

He has the rare distinction of serving as private secretary to three prime ministers -- Inder Kumar Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. As per norms, Mr Misri is set to have a minimum tenure of two years as the foreign secretary.

"Shri Vikram Misri assumed charge as Foreign Secretary today. #TeamMEA extends a warm welcome to Foreign Secretary Misri and wishes him a successful tenure ahead," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.

Before he was appointed as the deputy NSA, Mr Misri served as India's ambassador to China from 2019-2021.

Mr Misri is believed to have played a key role in talks between India and China after tensions flared significantly following the Galwan Valley clashes in June, 2020.

The ties between the two countries nosedived following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

In his illustrious career, Mr Misri also served as India's ambassador to Spain (2014-2016) and Myanmar (2016-2018) besides having stints in many Indian missions, including Pakistan, the US, Germany, Belgium and Sri Lanka.

Mr Misri was born in Srinagar and had his early education there (Burn Hall School and DAV School) as well as in Udhampur (Carmel Convent School) in Jammu and Kashmir. He finished his schooling from the Scindia School in Gwalior and went on to earn a Bachelor's degree with honours in history from the Hindu College in the University of Delhi and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Before joining the government, he worked for three years in the private sector in the fields of advertising and advertising film-making. Mr Misri is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute USA's India Leadership Initiative (now the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship). He is married to Dolly Misri and they have two children.

The government is in the process of appointing India's next envoy to the US and New Delhi's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York.

Kwatra is learnt to be among the front-runners for the ambassador's position in Washington. The post has been lying vacant since Taranjit Sandhu retired in January. The position of India's permanent representative to the UN is also lying vacant after Ruchira Kamboj retired last month.

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