New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Reenat Sandhu (IFS) as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). According to an order from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), she has been appointed to the post in place of Vikas Swarup (IFS), who set to superannuate on June 30. Sandhu is an Indian diplomat and the current Indian Ambassador to Italy and San Marino.
Sandhu holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. She joined the Indian Foreign Service in August 1989. She has served at the Indian missions in Moscow, Kiev, Washington DC, Colombo, New York and Geneva. She has also worked at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi and handled Investment and Trade Promotion, Projects, East Europe and Sri Lanka desks.
She was the Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2011 to 2014. From 2014 to 2017, she was the Minister (Commerce) and later the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India, also known as the Foreign Ministry, is the government agency responsible for the conduct of foreign relations of India. The Ministry comes under the Government of India and is responsible for India's representation in the United Nations. It also advises other Ministries and State Governments when the latter have dealings with foreign governments or institutions.
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