The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) office at South Block saw a change of guard on Monday with Vijay Gokhale, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1981 batch, taking over as the new Foreign Secretary (FS) of India. Gokhale replaces Subramanyam Jaishankar, who remained the highest serving FS in almost four decades.
Gokhale, a strong China hand, having served as an ambassador in Beijing, was Secretary Economic Relations at MEA before taking up his present assignment as FS.
A Masters in History from Delhi University, Gokhale's previous diplomatic assignments include postings in Hong Kong, Hanoi, and New York. He has also served as Deputy Secretary (Finance), Director (China and East Asia) and Joint Secretary (East Asia) during his stints at the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. He was High Commissioner of India to Malaysia from January 2010 to October 2013, Ambassador of India to Germany from October 2013 to January 2016, and Ambassador of India to China from January 2016 to October 2017.
Jaishankar, 1977 batch IFS officer retired after remaining FS for three years (January 2015 to 2018). He is credited with shaping the present NDA Government's Foreign Policy and steering the Government out of some difficult situations. Both Gokhale and Jaishankar played crucial role in resolving the Doklam standoff with China.