Jaishankar's aide and China desk head Shilpak Ambule headed for Singapore
Dr Shilpak Ambule leaves as head of China division in South Block to succeed P Kumaran as India's ambassador to Singapore, Gulf division head Vipul goes to Qatar to replace Dr Deepak Mittal, who joins PMO as joint secretary at the end of this month
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s principal aide and Joint Secretary handling East Asia Division including China in Ministry of External Affairs, Dr Shilpak Ambule will take over as India’s next ambassador to Singapore.
Joint Secretary handling the Gulf Division Vipul will be replacing Dr Deepak Mittal as Indian ambassador to Qatar with latter returning to India to join the Prime Minister’s Office as Joint Secretary. Indian ambassador to Malaysia Mridul Kumar is slated to go as ambassador to Switzerland with the tenure of Indian envoy to Austria Jaideep Mazumdar headed for extension.
A 2002 batch IFS officer, Dr Ambule has been with EAM Jaishankar since he was Foreign Secretary and even as joint secretary handling China he would chip in as principal aide to the Minister. A low-profile but very hard-working officer, Shilpak is a Chinese language speaker, which will hold him in good stead in Chinese-dominated Singapore. He succeeds P Kumaran, who returns back to South Block as a Secretary after a successful stint in Singapore.
Dr Deepak Mittal, presently ambassador to Qatar, takes over as joint secretary PMO in place of Gaurav Shresth, who is headed as Indian Ambassador to Iran.