India’s new High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, has hit the ground running from the moment he landed in London last week.
He began his new charge by paying tributes at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square and Ambedkar Museum in north London and paid a visit to Gurdwara Sri Singh Sabha in west London over the weekend. Setting the tone for a clearly hands-on approach towards community outreach that he intends to adopt, the envoy was at the High Commission’s Visa and Consular centre to address issues faced by applicants soon after.
“Committed to putting in all possible effort to make services seamless,” he said.
Handpicked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India’s UK mission, Doraiswami brings with him a record of getting things done across various departments in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and as a diplomat posted to key missions around the world. At 53 years, he bucks the recent trend of diplomats close to retirement being transferred to India House in London as their final Indian government posting.
The former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1992 batch, was welcomed to the UK by Special Representative of the Foreign Secretary Adele Taylor, Deputy High Commissioner Sujit Ghosh and other senior officials.
On his arrival on September 23, Doraiswami presented copies of his credentials to the Vice-Marshal of the UK's Diplomatic Corps to take formal charge at the High Commission of India in London.
"Team High Commission of India in London is excited to have him on board to work towards furthering India-UK relations," India House said.
Doraiswami has a Master’s in History from the University of Delhi and worked as a journalist before joining government service. Besides serving in missions and embassies around the world, he has also been based at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York as Political Counsellor. During a distinguished career, Doraiswami has worked in the Indian Prime Minister’s Office and served in several senior positions within the MEA.
The new High Commissioner’s interests include reading, sports, fitness, travel and jazz. He speaks multiple languages, including Chinese, French and some Korean.
Doraiswami succeeds Gaitri Issar Kumar, who retired from service as the High Commissioner of India to the UK at the end of June.
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