London: Senior diplomat P Kumaran Wednesday assumed charge as India’s High Commissioner-designate to the UK.
A 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Kumaran was until recently Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He succeeds Vikram Doraiswami, who has taken over as India’s Ambassador to China.
The team at India House in London warmly welcomes High Commissioner designate P Kumaran on assuming charge today, the High Commission of India in London said in a social media post.
We look forward to working under his leadership and guidance to further strengthen the India-UK partnership, it stated.
Kumaran was received on arrival by Deputy High Commissioner Kartik Pande and Gordon Wetherell CMG, Special Representative of UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Fluent in English, Hindi, Tamil and Arabic, Kumaran has previously served as India’s Ambassador to Qatar and High Commissioner to Singapore.
His tenure in the UK will formally commence after he presents his credentials to King Charles III in a ceremony expected in the coming weeks.
The ceremony, steeped in tradition, involves diplomats presenting their Letter of Commission, or the formal letter from President Droupadi Murmu, asking the British monarch to give credence to the country’s new High Commissioner.