Ruchira Kamboj appointed India’s new ambassador to U.N.

Kamboj, currently ambassador to Bhutan and an officer of the 1987 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the external affairs ministry said

India on Tuesday named Ruchira Kamboj, a career diplomat with expertise in multilateral organisations, as its next permanent representative to the United Nations in New York.

FILE PHOTO: The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri (REUTERS)

Kamboj, currently ambassador to Bhutan and an officer of the 1987 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the external affairs ministry said.

She will succeed TS Tirumurti, who was given a three-month extension in service after his retirement in March in view of his key role in dealing with the fallout of the Ukraine crisis at the UN Security Council. India is in the second year of a two-year term as a non- permanent member of the Security Council.

Kamboj was the all India women’s topper of the 1987 civil services batch and the topper of the 1987 IFS batch. She has served in various capacities in Indian missions in France, Mauritius and South Africa and as the high commissioner to South Africa during 2017-19.

She served as under secretary in the Europe West division during 1991-96, dealing with France, the UK, BENELUX countries, Italy, Spain and Portugal, and also handling the relationship with the Commonwealth.

Kamboj, one of the IFS officers superseded for the post of foreign secretary earlier this year, had a stint as counsellor at India’s permanent mission to the UN in New York during 2002-05, dealing with issues such as UN peacekeeping, Security Council reform and the Middle East. She also served as deputy head of the office of the secretary general at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

During 2011-14, she served as chief of protocol in the external affairs ministry, the first lady officer to hold this position responsible for outgoing visits by the president, vice president, Prime Minister and external affairs minister. In this capacity, she was involved in organising international summits in India.

Kamboj was posted as India’s ambassador to Unesco in Paris during 2014-16 before being appointed as the envoy to South Africa. She was subsequently appointed ambassador to Bhutan in 2019.