External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was on Monday appointed India's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations in Geneva. Bagchi, a 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) official, took over as spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in March 2020 and deftly handled a number of critical issues and developments including the eastern Ladakh border row, India's COVID-19 response and New Delhi's G20 presidency. In Geneva, Bagchi would succeed Indra Mani Pandey who is set to return to New Delhi. "Arindam Bagchi (IFS:1995), presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed as the next Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva," the MEA said in a brief statement. "He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," it said. It is learnt that around four senior diplomats, including joint secretary (G20) Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur and high commissioner to Mauritius K Nandini Singla are being considered for the post of MEA spokesperson. Earlier, Bagchi served as ambassador to Croatia and deputy high commissioner to Sri Lanka. He also had a stint in the Prime Minister's Office as a director as well as at India's permanent mission at the UN in New York.
