By IANS,
New Delhi : Vishnu Prakash, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1981 batch, took over as the spokesman of the external affairs ministry Monday replacing Navtej Sarna.
Sarna, who served in the post for nearly six years, was the ministry’s longest serving spokesman. He has been appointed India’s ambassador to Israel and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Before taking over as the spokesman, Vishnu Prakash was India’s consul general in Shanghai. He has also served in the Indian missions in Islamabad and Egypt.
In the new role, Prakash’s first major assignment will be to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his 10-day-long tour to Germany, the US and France that begins Sep 22.
Apart from addressing the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington Sep 25 and there is a possibility that the India-US nuclear deal may be signed at that time.
The prime minister will also visit France to attend the India-European Union Summit in Marseilles and later travel to Paris for a bilateral summit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.