New Delhi: Seasoned diplomat Reenat Sandhu on Thursday assumed charge as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), officials said.
Sandhu, a 1989-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, succeeded Vikas Swarup who retired on Wednesday after 35 years of service.
Prior to taking over the charge as Secretary (West), Sandhu was holding the post of Additional Secretary (Indo-Pacific, South and Oceania) at the headquarters of the MEA in Delhi.
She served as Ambassador to Italy and San Marino from 2017-2020.
Sandhu also served as Minister (Commerce)/ Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC from 2014-2017 and was Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the WTO in Geneva during 2011-14.
She has also served in various capacities in Indian missions in Moscow, Kyiv, Colombo and New York.
During her previous stints in the MEA in Delhi, she handled divisions such as investment and trade promotion, projects, East Europe and Sri Lanka desks.
Sandhu is a post-graduate in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.