New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): Vikram Doraiswami, currently serving as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to China, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

In an official statement, the MEA said, 'Vikram K. Doraiswami (IFS:1992), presently High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the People's Republic of China.'.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Doraiswami joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1992. Before that, he did journalism for a year.

According to MEA, he received his master's degree in history from Delhi University.

After completing his in-service training in New Delhi from 1992-1993, Doraiswami was appointed Third Secretary in the Indian Embassy in Hong Kong in May 1994. He completed a Diploma in the Chinese Language at New Asia Yale-in-Asia Language School, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In September 1996, he was appointed to the Indian Embassy in Beijing, where he served for about four years.

On his return to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi in 2000, Doraiswami was appointed Deputy Chief of Protocol (Official). After two years he was promoted to the Prime Minister's office. Later he served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of India.

In 2006, Doraiswami took charge as the Political Counselor at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York and in October 2009 as the Consul General of India in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In July 2011, Doraiswamy returned to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, where he headed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Division. During this period he was also the coordinator of the Fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi in March 2012.From October 2012 to October 2014, Doraiswami was the Joint Secretary in the Americas Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. He became India's Ambassador to Uzbekistan in October 2014, before being appointed India's Ambassador to Korea in April 2015.After completing this duty, he returned to the headquarters in July 2018 and served as the head of the Bangladesh and Myanmar department.

In April 2019, he was tasked with setting up a new department in the Ministry of External Affairs for the Indo-Pacific region. After promotion in December 2019, he was designated Additional Secretary for International Organizations and Summits.

Prior to UK, he had assumed charge as Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh on October 05, 2020.

Vikram Doraiswami is interested in reading, sports, fitness, travelling and Jazz music.

He is fluent in Chinese, French and Korean. (ANI)