New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday appointed Ruchira Kamboj as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. Kamboj is IFS 1987 batch and is presently Ambassador to Bhutan, and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Kamboj was earlier posted as Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002-2005, where she dealt with a wide range of political issues, including UN Peacekeeping, UN Security Council Reform, the Middle East crisis. Upon release of Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Blue Ribbon Panel Report in December 2014, she was part of the G-4 team that worked on the reform and expansion of the United Nations Security Council, which is a work in progress.
Kamboj joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. She was the All India women’s topper of the 1987 Civil Services batch. She began her diplomatic journey in Paris where she was posted as the Third Secretary in the Indian Embassy to France from 1989-1991.
During this period, she studied French at the Institut Catholique, Paris and at the Alliance FranAaise Paris. Upon completion, she served as Second Secretary in the Indian Embassy to France dealing with political issues.
In this period, she also doubled as the Mission’s Head of Chancery and dealt successfully with four Prime Ministerial visits coinciding with the opening of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in September every year.
From 2006-2009, she was India’s Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa which involved close liaison with the Parliament of South Africa. She was the Deputy Head of the Office of the Secretary General at the Commonwealth Secretariat London.
From 2011-2014, she was India’s Chief of Protocol, the first and only lady so far in Government to have held this position. In this capacity, she directed all outgoing visits of the President of India, the Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India and the External Affairs Minister of India. She also dealt with all incoming Heads of Government and State to India. As Chief of Protocol, all High Commissioners/ Ambassadors to India worked closely with her on day to day administration issues including delicate issues surrounding the Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
(IANS)
