JS DEEPAK NAMED INDIA’S NEXT AMBASSADOR TO WTO
Telecom secretary J S Deepak was on Wednesday named India's next ambassador to the World Trade Organisation from June. WTO deals with rules of trade between nations.
A 1982 batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh, Deepak, who is at present attending the World Mobile Congress at Barcelona, has been shifted with "immediate effect" from the telecom ministry and has been made officer on special duty (OSD) in the commerce department, an official order said. IAS is Indian administrative service.
During his earlier stint in the commerce ministry, he was India's chief negotiator at the WTO and for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement being negotiated by 16 countries.
India has been pushing for a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in services at WTO, which has 164 member countries. The WTO's trade facilitation pact in goods came into force on February 22.
According to the official order, Deepak has been appointed OSD in the department of commerce after the government upgraded this post from director to secretary.
He will be functioning as OSD till May 31, the order of appointments commitee of Cabinet, headed by prime minister Narendra Modi, said.
The order also named him as India's ambassador to the Geneva-based WTO from June 1 till the date of his retirement, which is July 31 next year.
Deepak is credited with successfully conducting the first ever e-auction of spectrum in 2010, that fetched government over ~1.06 lakh crore in 2010, while also setting the road map for future auctions.
An MBA degree holder from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Deepak has worked as consultant with The Policy Project, Washington DC, a consortium of USbased Research Triangle Institute and Johns Hopkins University, to develop population and health policies for various countries and states in India. MBA is Master of Business Administration.