New Delhi sources have made a statement that Vijay Gokhale, who as envoy in Beijing played a crucial role in the resolution of the Doklam stand-off with China, was on Monday named the new Foreign Secretary to replace S. Jaishankar who retires this month.
Meanwhile an official statement read currently the appointment of Gokhale, Secretary (Economic Relations), was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Furthermore the 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service officer is widely believed to have played a crucial role as then Indian ambassador to China when he led the negotiations to resolve the over 70 day Doklam crisis.
According to sources Gokhale has served Indian
embassies in Germany and Malaysia and missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi and New York
and moreover he will take over from Jaishankar who was appointed Foreign
Secretary on January 29, 2015, for two years and given a one year extension in
January last year. Jaishankar retires on January 28.
