New Delhi: The Government of India (GoI) has appointed Dr K Srikar Reddy as the next Ambassador to the State of Qatar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday, July 24.
He succeeds Ambassador Vipul, whose tenure in Doha has come to an end. The appointment comes as India and Qatar continue to strengthen bilateral ties across trade, investment, energy, defence and people-to-people exchanges.
Dr Reddy, a 2001-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, is currently serving as the Consul General of India in San Francisco. The MEA said he is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
A native of Telangana’s Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, Dr Reddy graduated from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal before joining the Indian Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, he has served in Indian missions in Germany, Switzerland and Vietnam, as well as at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Between 2011 and 2014, he served as Regional Passport Officer in Hyderabad, where he oversaw reforms to passport services in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Before his current posting in San Francisco, Dr Reddy was Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce. He played a key role in negotiating the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the India-Mauritius CEPA. He also led negotiations on proposed free trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
With his appointment, Dr Reddy will become the second person from Telangana to serve as India’s Ambassador to Qatar after the late Prof Dorai Bashiruddin, who headed the mission from 1983 to 1986. Qatar is home to one of the largest Indian expatriate communities in the Gulf, including a significant number from Telangana Iran and Andhra Pradesh.
