Dr. S. Jaishankar sworn in as India’s External Affairs Minister

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar assumed office as India’s new External Affairs Minister on May 31 after being sworn into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet.

Dr. Jaishankar is a diplomat and had previously served as India’s Foreign Secretary from January 2015 -2018. He is the first person to hold office as both Foreign Secretary and External Affairs Minister in India.

Dr. Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign service in 1977 and started his career from the Indian Embassy in Moscow. Since then he has served in many countries including Sri Lanka during his long illustrious career. He was India’s Ambassador to United States of America, China, Czech Republic, as High Commissioner to Singapore and Deputy Ambassador to Japan.

Dr. Jaishankar was involved in negotiating the landmark Indo-us nuclear deal and as India’s Foreign Secretary he was responsible for implementing India’s policy of neighbourhood first and increased engagement with regional initiatives like BIMSTEC. He was instrumental in implementing India’s people oriented development projects in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka several times during his stint as Foreign Secretary with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further boost the bilateral relationship between India and Sri Lanka.

He has served in many countries including Sri Lanka