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| Navtej Sarna addresses delegates during the Third India–Africa Forum Summit at the Indira Gandhi stadium in New Delhi. (AFP Photo)
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Oct 31, 2015: Navtej Singh Sarna, an Indian Foreign Service officer of 1980 batch, will be India’s next high commissioner to UK, the external affairs ministry said in a release on Saturday.
Sarna, an author of many fiction and non-fiction books, is currently serving as secretary (west) in the ministry. He will succeed Ranjan Mathai, a former foreign secretary, as India’s envoy in the UK. “He is expected to take up his assignment shortly,” the release said.
Sarna was the longest-serving spokesperson of the ministry and its most visible face from 2002 to 2008. He served as India’s ambassador to Israel from 2008 to 2012.
For two years from August 2012, Sarna served as additional secretary in-charge of international organisations. He was then made secretary (west) in the ministry. He represented India at the officers’ meeting at the India-Africa forum summit that concluded on Thursday.
Sarna is also well-versed in Russian and Polish languages and has served in various Indian missions, including Moscow, Warsaw, Tehran, Geneva, Thimphu and Washington.