NEW DELHI: The Ambassador-designate to Washington Navtej Sarna will be taking over as India’s top diplomat in the US before President Barak Obama leaves office and the President-elect Donald Trump takes over.
Sarna’s credentials have already been prepared in the name of President Obama, who will be handing over the baton to the Trump on January 20.
“Last time when I had spoken to the then Ambassador-designate to Washington he had said that his credentials were made in the name of President Obama so I am hopeful that he would be able to present them to President Obama,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in response to a query if Sarna will have to wait for Trump to take charge before presenting his credentials.
Sarna, the present Indian envoy to the UK, will be charting out the course of the Indo-US relations after the 45th President comes into the White House. The 59-year-old Sarna, who has been one of the longest serving spokespersons of the MEA, is already in the US and has presented a copy of his credentials of the State Department’s Chief of Protocol.
Sarna is taking over from Arun Singh, who is superannuating. Sarna, a 1980 batch officer was posted to London in January before serving as the Secretary (West) in the MEA. Sarna has also written fiction and non-fiction books and has served India in important countries like Israel, Russia, Iran and the US.
India and US relations have soared during the Obama presidency, and the Narendra Modi government does not want to leave anything to chance as far as establishing contact with the new government under Trump, who defied all odds in a fiercely-fought election battle with Hillary Clinton. Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is already in the US, to open communication channels with the incoming Republican Government.
Jaishankar is expected to meet Republican National Council chairman Reince Priebus who is set to take over as Trump’s Chief of Staff after the President-elect moves into the White House. India would be keen to have an early meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While President-designee’s view of terrorism has been positive news for India, his pre-elections rhetoric on immigration has been cause of concern for the Indian administration.
The other important appointment has been of Taranjit Singh Sandhu as the High Commissioner to the Sri Lanka, who will also be moving to Colombo “fairly soon”.