Navtej Sarna likely to be India’s next envoy to the US

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) India’s High Commissioner to UKNavtej Sarna is set to head for Washington as Ambassador tothe US, considered a high-profile posting. Arun Singh, India’s Ambassador to US, is due forretirement and it is understood that Sarna’s name has beenfinalised to succeed him. It is learnt the India’s High Commissioner to Sri LankaYashvardhan Kumar Sinha may replace Sarna in the UK. Sarna, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1980batch, was serving as Secretary (West) in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs before he was posted to London in January. The 59-year-old diplomat was among the longest-servingspokespersons of the MEA. He had held the post between 2002and 2008. Sarna is likely to take up the new assignment in the midstof the high-voltage presidential campaign in the US and hismain task will be to ensure continuity in Indo-US relationswhen a new dispensation takes charge in Washington. Sarna is an author of many fiction and non-fiction books,with the most recent being ‘Second Thoughts: On Books, Authorsand the Writerly Life’ released last year. He was also India’sAmbassador to Israel from 2008 to 2012. For two years from August 2012, Sarna had served asadditional secretary in-charge of international organisationsin the MEA. Sarna had served at various Indian missions, including inMoscow, Warsaw, Tehran, Geneva, Thimphu and Washington. Sinha, tipped to be Indian High Commissioner to the UK, isa seasoned diplomat and, in his career spanning 35 years, hehas handled several important assignments at the MEA and inIndian diplomatic missions in South Asia, the Middle East,Europe and South America. PTI MPBSK