By IANS,
Mumbai: British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham has been appointed the new British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai.
An expert on trade, investment and a lover of cricket, Beckingham will take charge at Mumbai with responsibility for western India Monday (Feb 1), an official spokesperson said here Friday.
This is for the first time that a diplomat of the rank of ambassador has been appointed deputy high commissioner in Mumbai, the spokesperson said.
Beckingham will take over from Vicki Treadell, who has been made British high commissioner to New Zealand.
“I look forward to being part of the vibrant business, cultural and sports community of Mumbai and find new ways of expanding the already strong ties shared between India and the UK,” Beckingham said as he prepared to take up his new charge.
Prior to serving as ambassador to the Phillipines between 2005-2009, Beckingham was posted in Australia, the US, Sweden and Europe.
Born in Essex, England, he graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge, and was a teacher in Zambia before joining the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1979.
He is married to a teacher, Jill, who specializes in helping children with reading difficulties, and the couple has two daughters.