Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has been appointed as the next ambassador to the United States. She will take up this assignment after superannuation next month-end. Mrs. Rao succeeds Meera Shankar as the US Ambassador. Her appointment has been cleared by the government and a formal announcement is expected soon. The 1973-batch IFS officer assumed the office of the Foreign Secretary on August one, 2009, becoming the second woman to head the Indian Foreign Secretary after Chokila Iyer. She was to retire in December last year at the age of 60 but was given an extension till July-end when the government fixed a two-year term for the post of foreign secretary.
Mrs. Rao’s appointment as the next envoy to US comes as a significant development in the backdrop of crucial Indo-US ties. Mrs. Rao, the first woman spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, was country’s ambassador to Sri Lanka and China before being appointed as the foreign secretary. She has had extensive experience in handling India-China relations. She had earlier served in the East-Asia Division of the MEA from 1984 to 1992, and had also been the joint secretary of the same division. She later served as India’s envoy in Beijing.
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