August 2, 2011, Washington DC: The U.S. India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) congratulates Nirupama Rao on taking over as the new Indian Ambassador to US. Rao resigned as the Foreign Secretary of India on 31st July 2011 and takes over the new role of Indian Ambassador from Meera Shankar.
A 1973-batch Indian Foreign Services (IFS) Officer, Nirupama Rao has over four decades of experience in dealing with diplomatic relations. She has served in different nations in various capacities as a diplomat. She started off by working in the Indian Embassy in Vienna in the mid seventies and then as a First Secretary in the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka from 1981-83.Having specialized on Asia-Pacific security from Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in 1992-93 as a fellow, she served in the Indian Embassies in Washington and Moscow as Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, respectively. She was also an Ambassador to Peru, Bolivia and China. After becoming the first woman spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs, she was assigned to Sri Lanka as High Commissioner for India in 2004.
Mr. Sanjay Puri, Chairman, USINPAC congratulated Nirupama Rao’s appointment as the Indian Ambassador to the U.S. and said, “It is a proud moment for all of us. Ms. Rao brings with her a portfolio of brilliant expertise on foreign affairs and her ambassadorship will certainly lead to a further remarkable Indo-U.S. friendship.”
About USINPAC: The U.S India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) is a bi-partisan non-profit organization and the voice of 2.7 million Indian-Americans. It works to impact policy on issues of concern to the Indian-American community in the US. We also provide bipartisan support to candidates for federal, state and local office who support the issues that are important to the Indian-American community. For more information visit us at http://www.usinpac.com.