Ambassador Sanjiv Arora

Sanjiv Arora joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1984. He served in various capacities in New Delhi and abroad, starting with his first posting in Egypt and signing off at the senior most level as Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs. In his last posting, he had the privilege of being a member of the Government of India’s Group of Secretaries on Governance issues.

During his long career, Ambassador Arora has practiced diplomacy in various forms and manifestations. In all his postings, he was able to quickly establish swift access to and close and enduring rapport with important stakeholders and interlocutors at various levels in diverse spheres, including government, politics, security and defence, business, media, universities, think tanks & research organisations, arts and culture, community fora, diplomatic corp, etc.

Ambassador Arora has extensively participated in bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral negotiations, covering various issues in different formats and settings, including during many high-level visits. He has also led the Government of India’s delegations on multiple occasions.

Among his many assignments, Ambassador Arora served as Acting Consul General during the Gulf War, longest serving Commercial Representative in Germany, Consul General in the USA with responsibilities spanning Texas and eight other States, longest serving Ambassador to Qatar,  Ambassador to Lebanon and finally, as Secretary in MEA. He has also been actively involved in multilateral diplomacy, serving as Head of the United Nations (Political) Division in MEA for nearly 4 years. Ambassador Sanjiv Arora also has experience in India’s immediate neighbourhood—he was Desk Officer for Sri Lanka in MEA and later, a Counsellor in Colombo. He is among the few IFS officers deputed to the Ministry of Finance.

Ambassador Sanjiv Arora has dealt with economic, commercial, energy and development cooperation issues extensively and substantively during his diplomatic career. The other areas of his distinctive specialisation include, besides India’s relations with the countries where he has served, the Middle East, multilateral diplomacy, and the people-centric regions of consular and global diaspora, including mobility and migration.

At the end of his tenure in Qatar, HH The Emir of Qatar honoured Ambassador Sanjiv Arora with a ‘Sash of Merit’ for his contribution to enhancing bilateral ties.

Ambassador Arora is a Life Member of the United Service Institution of India (USI), Associate Member of the Institute of  Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses New Delhi, Associate of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru and Fellow of Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies (APCSS), Honolulu, USA.

After topping both in Pre-Engg and BA (Hons) from  Panjab University, followed by an MBA from the same university, Ambassador Arora served in the corporate sector and RBI before joining the IFS.