Senior diplomat and former high-profile spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, has been appointed as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, succeeding Asoke Mukerji.
Akbaruddin was the Chief Coordinator of the recently-held Indo-Africa Summit that witnessed the participation of the heads of states and the governments of around 41 countries from the African continent. He had served at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Geneva and is considered an “expert” on West Asia, where he had served in various capacities.
Akbaruddin who was serving as an Additional Secretary in MEA, is credited for bringing about an effective mix of social and digital media into the Ministry’s External Publicity Division during his three-and-half year tenure as the spokesperson.
As India’s Permanent Representative to the global body in New York, Akbaruddin’s main task would be to push for India’s bid to gain permanent membership of the UN Security Council as well as to strongly advocate its position on key issues.
Vikas Swarup, author of best-selling novel “Q&A” which formed the basis for Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, had replaced Akbaruddin as the MEA spokesperson in April 2015.
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