S. Jaishankar

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977. Educated at St Stephen's College and Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he completed a doctorate in international relations, he served in Moscow, Washington, Colombo, Budapest, and Tokyo. His work included political advice to India's peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka. He later became ambassador to the Czech Republic, high commissioner to Singapore, and ambassador to China. ^{1, 2}

Relations with the United States were a recurring responsibility. As the foreign ministry's joint secretary for the Americas, he helped negotiate the civil nuclear agreement. He returned to Washington as ambassador in December 2013 and played a leading role in preparations for Narendra Modi's September 2014 visit to the United States and Barack Obama's January 2015 visit to India. ²

In an April 2014 Harvard address, Jaishankar argued that economic change, the Indian American community, and the end of the Cold War had created new grounds for cooperation. He also challenged proposed American immigration restrictions affecting India's services industry and described his discussions with NASA and Pacific Command about space exploration and maritime cooperation. ³

Jaishankar became foreign secretary in 2015 and served until 2018. After a period overseeing global corporate affairs at Tata Sons, he became minister of external affairs in May 2019 and entered the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. His books The India Way and Why Bharat Matters set out his views on India's international position. ¹