Ranjan Mathai is new Foreign Secretary

NEW DELHI: Ranjan Mathai, a 1974-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, took over as the Foreign Secretary from Nirupama Rao on Monday. Rao will replace Meera Shankar as the India's ambassador to the United States.

Mathai will man the critical post for the next two years, when India will scale up the scope and depth of its engagement with the world in general and in the South Asian region in particular.

Mathai, the 59-year-old former Indian ambassador to France, will find himself at the centre of action as India continues its diplomatic tight-rope-walk with Pakistan, operationalises the civilian nuclear deal with the United States, negotiates the tricky immediate neighbourhood with China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and make an all-out bid for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.

"I am greatly honoured to be taking up this assignment which is a very complex one and full of many challenges... We are in a world of flux and we have to be innovative and adapt to the situation as it develops, but at the same time we have to be clear eyed about what are our national priorities and interests, many of which remain permanent," Ranjan Mathai said on assuming charge.

Ranjan Mathai has experience in dealing with the neighbourhood as he had served as joint secretary at MEA (1995-1998), heading the division responsible for relations with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives.

He served as India's ambassador to Israel from February 1998 to June 2001 and to Qatar from August 2001 to July 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, he served as the deputy high commissioner of India in UK. Since 2007, he was the Indian ambassador to France.

Ranjan Mathai said he would try to improve passport and consular services. On Pakistan, he said his mandate was to pave the way for substantive dialogue.

"The Foreign Secretary is as much an institution, as an individual. So I will continue this effort, continuity will be my watchword," the new foreign secretary said on Monday.