According to sources Harsh Vardhan Shringla, presently Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh was on Thursday named as the new Indian Ambassador to the US. Meanwhile a 1984 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Shringla is expected to take up his new assignment shortly, according to a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry.
Accordingly he will succeed Navtej Sarna, who will retire by the end of 2018, in Washington. Furthermore in the course of a diplomatic career spanning 34 years, Shringla has held a variety of positions in New Delhi and abroad. Hence before his assignment in Bangladesh, he served as Ambassador of India to Thailand and he has also served at Unesco in France, at the UN in New York, besides serving in various capacities in Vietnam, Israel and South Africa.
Moreover Shringla has served in the Ministry headquarters in New Delhi as Joint Secretary (Director General) responsible for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives. Reportedly he has also headed the UN Political and South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) divisions in the Ministry. Also Shringla speaks French, Vietnamese and Nepalese apart from English and Indian languages.