Dinkar Asthana appointed as Indian envoy to Senegal

Indian envoy to the Lao, Dinkar Asthana has been appointed as the next ambassador to Senegal, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Wednesday.

Indian envoy to the Lao, Dinkar Asthana has been appointed as the next ambassador to Senegal, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Wednesday. "Dinkar Asthana (IFS: 1990), presently Ambassador of India to the Lao People's Democratic Republic, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Senegal," the MEA said in a statement.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Dinkar Asthana joined the Indian Foreign Service in August 1990.

He knows Hindi, English, German and rudimentary French. He has served in the Indian diplomatic missions in Bonn, Bangkok, Colombo and Mexico City. In New Delhi, he has served in the Policy Planning, PAI (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran), Protocol, and Multilateral Economic Relations Divisions. He was Deputy Director General in the Indian Council for Cultural Relations from March 2014 to September 2015 and Joint Secretary (SAARC, BIMSTEC & Border Connectivity) from October 2015 to January 2016.

From February 2016, he was Joint Secretary (Development Partnership Administration-II), before taking over as Additional Secretary (Development Partnership Administration) in September 2018. He has been the Ambassador of India to Lao PDR since end-April 2019. (ANI)