- Monday, May 05, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN ambassador to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami is likely to take over as the country’s new envoy to the UK, the Hindustan Times reported.
Doraiswamy, who is a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is a Chinese speaker and has served as New Delhi’s envoy to Uzbekistan and South Korea. He has worked in the US and South Africa and as a private secretary to the Indian prime minister as well.
Doraiswami will replace ambassador Gaitri Issar Kumar, who superannuated on Thursday (30). According to the Indian daily, Sudhakar Dalela, the current Indian deputy chief of mission in the US, is expected to replace Doraiswami in Bangladesh. Dalela is a 1993-batch officer.
It is also being speculated that the Indian ambassador to Vietnam, Pranay Verma, will succeed Ruchira Kamboj in Bhutan while Sandeep Arya will replace him in the south-east Asian nation. Both Verma and Arya are 1994-batch officers.
Kamboj has recently been appointed as India’s permanent representative in the United Nations.
Doraiswami, who is known to be a hardworking diplomat, has been central to close bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh. He has worked on cementing ties between the two South Asian neighbours through cooperation in infrastructure and defence.
The man also played a key role in getting South Korea’s Kia Motors in the Indian market and jointly developing South Korean K-9 155 mm self-propelled howitzer in India.
According to the Hindustan Times report, the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi decided on Doraiswami’s appointment after going through a long and deep selection procedure. It even looked at the possibility of having a political appointee as its ambassador to the UK.
While New Delhi has a close relationship with London, there are also friction areas like those relating to the UK’s stance on Afghanistan and Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir and giving shelter to radical Sikhs.
However, the two nations are working towards a free-trade agreement post Brexit and New Delhi has clearly expressed its concerns to London.
While it is believed that Doraiswami will help New Delhi to push for closer relationship with London while also taking up the friction areas, his possible successor Dalela would facilitate India’s engagement with Bangladesh since he is quite experienced in handling India’s relations with its South Asian neighbours. He was the joint secretary handling the two Himalayan neighbours of Bhutan and Nepal when the Doklam crisis broke out in 2017, the daily added.
