According to reliable sources, Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna the term of Sarna, a 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service officer and who was supposed to retire November end, has been extended by a year. He was named India’s envoy in Washington in September last year ahead of the US presidential election and after serving just eight months as Indian High Commissioner to Britain.
Meanwhile with Sarna as the Ambassador, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a highly successful first time meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington this year. Both Sarna and his predecessor, Arun Kumar Singh, are former Indian Ambassadors to Israel, underlying the importance of a posting in Tel Aviv which is one of Washington’s closest allies.
Sarna
has had a previous posting in Washington when he was Minister for Press,
Information and Culture between 1998 and 2002. Moreover prior to his London
posting, Sarna was Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs where
he oversaw the successful hosting in October 2015 of the India-Africa Forum
Summit that was attended by a record number of 53 African countries. Modi was
personally very happy with the organization of the Summit and had congratulated
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for it.
