NEW DELHI: India’s sixth consulate in Seattle is operational and Prakash Gupta has been appointed as its first Consul General.
Prakash Gupta, is a career diplomat. His last assignment was as Joint Secretary to United Nations and Political Issues where he covered India’s UN Security Council Innings for 2021-22 and matters related to Non Alligned Movement (NAM), Commonwealth, IPU and Democracy related multilateral issues.
He was pivotal in piloting the International Day of Yoga Resolution at the United Nations and was also part of planning preparations for India’s G20 Summit in Delhi.
There are five other consulates in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York City and San Francisco. The Indian Embassy is in Washington DC and the Ambassador is Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
Meanwhile, the US has an Embassy in Delhi and four consulates in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore.
India and US are strategic partners and are members of groupings like G20 and I2U2. President Biden has reaffirmed that the partnership between the two nations is strategic. He came to India for the G20 Summit a few months after PM Modi went on an official visit to the U.S.
“The number of consulates depends on the bilateral relations between the two nations and the strength of the diaspora. In accordance, consulates are added,” said a source.
As of now, India has 122 embassies, 110 consulates and 8 representations across the world.