Senior diplomat Gautam Bambawale appointed India's next envoy to Pakistan

New Delhi: Senior diplomat Gautam Bambawale, currently India's envoy to Bhutan, has been appointed as next High Commissioner to Pakistan, External Affairs Ministry officially announced on Wednesday.

An IFS officer of 1984-batch, Bambawale will replace T C A Raghavan, who is retiring at the end of this month.

"He (Bambawale) is expected to take up his assignment shortly," the ministry said.

Significantly, Bambawale will take up his posting within days of the two countries deciding to re-engage under the "bilateral comprehensive dialogue". The Foreign Secretaries of the two countries are also scheduled to meet next month to discuss modalities for the same.

Bambawale has worked in Germany, US and China. In 2007, he became the first Consul General of India in Guangzhou, China.

Before taking up posting in Bhutan in 2014, he has held charge of Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the ministry headquarters from December, 2009 to July, 2014, responsible for relations with China, Japan and South Korea, among others.