New Indian Ambassador to the United States: Ronen Sen
Ambassador Ronen Sen is Right Man for the Job
by George Iype
India Abroad Print Edition
June 25, 2004, pg. A-1
Ronen Sen, till recently India's High Commissioner to London, will succeed
Lalit Mansingh as Ambassador to the United States.
The appointment was part of a series of high-profile diplomatic appointments
the United Progressive Alliance government initiated one month after it
came to power.
While former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal will travel to Russia, Kamlesh
Sharma -- the UN Secretary General's Special Representative to East Timor
-- is India's next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. India's High
Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupam Sen will succeed Vijay K. Nambiar as
the country's permanent representative to the United Nations.
The new occupant of DC's McComb Avenue residence has his task cut out:
relations between the two countries, which seemed to soar under the National
Democratic Alliance government, have turned slightly tentative following
the new Congress party-led alliance coming to power in India. In such
a situation, the consensus is that Sen is the right man for the job.
"He is a fantastic diplomat. The best quality about him is that
not once has he failed to deliver. He ought to be in the U.S. at this
juncture," a senior official at the Ministry of External Affairs
told India Abroad when asked about Sen.
Siddhartha Shankar Ray, former ambassador to the US, told India Abroad,
"Sen will do a good job as India's Ambassador. He is highly rated
and has served in senior diplomatic posts."
Concurred former Foreign Secretary Salman Haider, "He is a topflight
diplomat. I'm sure he will be a resounding success as our ambassador to
the U.S."
Sen, 60, considered among India's most experienced diplomats, earlier
served as ambassador to Russia from 1992 to 1998 and to the United Kingdom,
Mexico, Germany and Bangladesh.
"The fact that he served for six years as India's ambassador to
Russia itself proves that he was effective," Haider told India Abroad.
External Affairs Ministry officials also point out that while Sen is
among their brilliant officers, there was another factor that went in
his favor: his "Congress Party connections". The veteran diplomat
was a close confidante of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and has
maintained his links with the Gandhi-Nehru family.
A product of St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, Sen joined the Indian
Foreign Service in 1966. In the 1980's he was deputed to the Prime Minister's
Office, where he served as Joint Secretary under then Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi.
Sen's rapport with Gandhi was such that the Prime Minister took him wherever
he went. Sen may have traveled with Gandhi on over 100 foreign trips,
guiding him through tough diplomatic and international issues.
Sen was with Gandhi when the then prime minister traveled to Colombo
to sign the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in 1987. Gandhi sent Sen as his
special emissary on a visit to Pakistan that resulted in the meeting between
Gandhi and his Pakistan counterpart, Benazir Bhutto.
When Gandhi met with foreign leaders, Sen was often the only official
by his side.
Sen continued in the PMO under Prime Ministers V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar
and P.V. Narasimha Rao, before being sent to Mexico in 1992. He was in
Mexico for barely a year before he was sent to Russia as India's ambassador.
In the post-Cold War scenario, New Delhi's relations with Moscow took
a plunge. Sen was instrumental in revitalizing Indo-Russian relations
and is credited with sustaining them through his six-year stay.
Sen's two-year tenure as India's High Commissioner to the U.K. saw what
he observed as the 'turning point' in India-UK relations. The highlight
of his tenure was Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to India and the signing
of the Delhi Declaration in January 2002.
Having been a second secretary in the Indian Mission in San Francisco,
Sen's appointment as ambassador to Washington, DC is being keenly watched
given that he is familiar with the intricacies of Indo-US relations and
is well placed to further enhance them.
Additional reportage: Ramananda Sengupta and Tara Shankar Sahay
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