Shringla to captain Indo-US ties as Foreign Secretary

In his capacity as India's foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla would be the "captain of India-US relationship", a top American diplomat has said at a farewell reception for the outgoing envoy.

Shringla, who has been appointed as India's next foreign secretary, leaves Washington DC for India over the weekend to assume the responsibilities of his new assignment later this month.

A 1984-batch foreign service officer successfully served as India's Ambassador to the US for about a year.

"We are delighted that Ambassador Shringla will be going on to become Foreign Secretary because in that position we know that we're going to have a captain of the relationship and somebody who will be committed to doing the delicate work that needs to be done to stitch two very important countries together," Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, said at the farewell reception.

US Chief of Protocol Can Henderson hosted a rare reception for Shringla at the historic Blair House that was attended by top officials from the White House, Pentagon, State Department, Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representatives.

The Blair House reception for an outgoing envoy is normally reserved only for a few countries. India has emerged as one of them. Previously it was normally done at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

Wells, who is headed to India next week to attend the Raisina Dialogue, said that the two countries have been working for the last two decades to realise the goal of becoming "a natural partner", a term that was coined during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.