Diplomat Vipul named as new ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Vipul, a seasoned Indian Foreign Service officer and currently Ambassador to Qatar, has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, succeeding Sohail Ajaz Khan.

By Irfan Mohammed

Jeddah: The Ministry of External Affairs has appointed Vipul as India’s next Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. A 1998-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, Vipul has held key positions in the ministry and is considered a seasoned diplomat familiar with the Gulf region. He is fondly known as a people’s diplomat in the community in Dubai and Qatar.

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Vipul is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Qatar, prior to that he had worked as joint secretary for the Gulf region in the ministry of external affairs. He also served as Indian consul general in Dubai. He will succeed Sohail Ajaz Khan, the current Ambassador, transferred to headquarters back to New Delhi.

India had the practice of posting only Muslim officers as ambassadors in Riyadh for a long time. The reason cited was that of handling the annual Haj pilgrimage operations. Although, the ambassador does not have much role to play in Haj operations.

However, India was traditionally appointing only Muslims as Ambassadors where the Narendra Modi government set a practice aside and chose a dynamic diplomat to represent India in an important and largest powerhouse of the Arab World.