Jaishankar to retire as foreign secretary; Vijay Keshav Gokhale to take charge on Monday

S Jaishankar was appointed foreign secretary in January 2015.

Pic courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Vijay Keshav Gokhale will take charge as the next foreign secretary on Monday, succeeding S Jaishankar.

Jaishankar was appointed foreign secretary in January 2015, for two years, just a few days before his retirement, replacing Sujata Singh, whose term was abruptly curtailed by the government.

A 1977-batch IFS officer, Jaishankar was given a one-year extension in January last year. 

A 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Gokhale is currently serving as the secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

He had played a key role in negotiations to resolve the 73-day-long Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese armies last year.

Gokhale was India's Ambassador to China from January 20, 2016, to October 21, 2017, before moving back to the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. He has also been ambassador to Germany, Malaysia and director general, India Taipei Association, Taiwan.

He has held the posts of director (China and East Asia) and then joint secretary (East Asia) in the MEA. He has been appointed for a two-year fixed term. 

In January 2018, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the appointment of Gokhale to the post of foreign secretary.

"The appointments committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Vijay Keshav Gokhale, secretary (economic relations), Ministry of External Affairs as the Foreign Secretary vice Dr S Jaishankar, who is completing his tenure on 28.01. 2018," the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training had said. 

(With PTI inputs)