Indra Mani Pandey will be the next Secretary General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation(BIMSTEC).
He is an Indian Foreign Service Officer of 1990 batch and is presently the Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva.
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"My immense gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar for entrusting me with prestigious and challenging assignment of Secretary General of BIMSTEC, the key Regional Organization in Bay of Bengal," said Pandey on Saturday.
This is the first time that an Indian will hold the position of the Secretary General of BIMSTEC, said the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Indra Mani Pandey will take up the assignment shortly.
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Tenzin Lekphell, the outgoing BIMSTEC Secretary General, assumed office as the Secretary-General of BIMSTEC on 06 November 2020.
He is the third BIMSTEC Secretary-General.
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Ambassador Pandey served as Additional Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs in-charge of Disarmament & International Security Affairs Division.
Earlier, Ambassador Pandey had served as Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman. Before Muscat, he had served as Deputy Ambassador of India to France and Consul General of India at Guangzhou in China.
Ambassador Pandey has also served in various capacities at Indian Missions in Cairo (Egypt), Damascus (Syria), Islamabad (Pakistan), Kabul (Afghanistan) and Permanent Mission of India to Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (Switzerland).
During his earlier stints at Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, in New Delhi, Ambassador Pandey had handled assignments in West Asia North Africa Division; Consular, Passport and Visa Division; Counter Terrorism Cell; Americas Division; Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar (BSM) Division.
During 1998-99, Ambassador Pandey attended Foreign Service Programme at Oxford University. In 2009, he attended 49th Course on National Security and Strategy, conducted by National Defence College of India.