Ending weeks of speculation for India's most prized diplomatic post, the government on Thursday appointed veteran diplomat Shiv Shankar Menon as the next foreign secretary, succeeding Shyam Saran.
Menon, currently high commissioner to Pakistan, will take charge of his new office on October 1, 2006.
Saran has been appointed Prime Minister's special envoy on the Indo-US negotiations on the civil nuclear deal.
Menon has served as envoy to important countries like China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Israel and Austria.
An Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1972 batch, Menon's impressive diplomatic career also includes a stint as an advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission.
A student of history, who did his Masters in history from Delhi University, speaks several foreign languages, including Chinese and German, and is known for his love of classical music and mountaineering.
Menon's three-year tenure as high commissioner to Pakistan saw a dramatic turnaround in India-Pakistan relations, starting from the resumption of the stalled peace process on January 6, 2004 to a straining of bilateral ties on the issue of Pakistan's continuing patronage of cross-border terrorism.
He took over as New Delhi's envoy in Islamabad in July 2003 at a time when bilateral relations were at a low with air and rail links were suspended between the two countries following the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament.
{{/usCountry}}He took over as New Delhi's envoy in Islamabad in July 2003 at a time when bilateral relations were at a low with air and rail links were suspended between the two countries following the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament.
{{/usCountry}}For the next two years, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad issued a record number of visas leading to an unprecedented surge in people-to-people contacts between the subcontinental neighbours.
The terror attacks in Mumbai in July, in which India suspected the hand of Pakistan-based terrorists, however, not only soured relations but also led to the postponement of foreign secretary-level talks, raising questions about the future of the peace process.
As India's ambassador to China, Menon's tenure saw the first serious effort made for the resolution of the decades-old border dispute between India and China during the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit in 2003.