Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs | |
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Assumed office 3 January 2024 | |
Preceded by | Arindam Bagchi |
Randhir Jaiswal is an Indian diplomat and civil services officer. He is a 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officer,currently serving as the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India. [1] [2]
Randhir Jaiswal is a 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officer. He has served in various capacities in Indian missions abroad and at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
Hailing from Muzaffarpur in Bihar,he holds a master's degree in history from the Delhi University. [3] [4] Jaiswal's early postings included assignments in Portugal,Cuba,South Africa,and at India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. [5] [6]
In July 2020,Jaiswal was appointed as the Consul General of India in New York. During his tenure,he was actively involved in the repatriation of Indian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and worked to strengthen the bonds between India and the US. [5] [6] [7]
Prior to his posting in New York,Jaiswal served as the Joint Secretary cum Social Secretary to the President of India,Ram Nath Kovind. In this role,he led the foreign affairs office of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and advised the President on India's foreign policy. [5] [8]
In January 2024,Jaiswal assumed the charge of the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. In this capacity,he holds routine weekly press conferences and moderates other press briefings and conferences concerning Indian foreign policy. [9] [10]
Jaiswal has also served as Deputy Secretary looking after India's relations with the United States of America and as Joint Secretary managing India's relations with West European countries. He has been part of India's delegation at various climate change conferences and was the lead negotiator for the G77 countries at the RIO+20 Conference held in Brazil in 2012. [5] [11]
Vikas Swarup is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs,India on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissioner of India in Canada and has been the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was best known as the author of the novel Q &A,adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire,the winner of Best Film for the year 2009 at the Academy Awards,Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards.
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Syed Akbaruddin is a retired Indian diplomat from 1985 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and served as India's permanent representative at the United Nations at New York from January 2016 to April 2020. He had previously served as official spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs from January 2012 to April 2015 and was Indian representative at IAEA from 2006 to 2011. He is currently serving as the dean of Kautilya School of Public Policy.
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The Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs is an Indian government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs and to deal with other media affairs relating to Indian foreign policy. The spokesperson is usually a joint-secretary rank officer,and formally heads the External Publicity division in the Ministry.