INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha on Friday (Dec.22) presented his credentials to President Ranil Wickremesinghe.The
presentation of credentials took place at the Presidential Secretariat.Prior to his new assignment, senior Indian diplomat Jha served as the
Indian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union.Jha was the Ambassador of India in Uzbekistan from July 2019 to July 2020
Earlier, from July 2017 to June 2019, he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC with a personal rank
of Ambassador.He also served at the Indian Embassy in Brussels earlier from 2010 to 2013, when he was the Deputy Chief of Mission
headed several divisions in the MEA including the Division for Human Resources and Management Affairs, the Division for Relations with
Western Europe and the European Union, Policy Planning DivisionIn addition to the above, Jha has served in different capacities at Delhi
(2004-2007) and at Indian Missions in Moscow (1995-1998), Vladivostok (1998-2000), New York (2000-2004), and Colombo (2007-2010).Between
2004 and 2007, assigned to the Americas Division of the MEA, Jha served as a member of the negotiating team for the India-US nuclear
agreement and was closely associated with the development of India-US relations, in particular, in the fields of space, nuclear, defence and
high technology.Jha has the experience of serving as a member of negotiating teams for Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Sri Lanka and the
European Union respectively
He is also credited with helping erect the architecture for development cooperation between India and Sri Lanka following the end of civil
Commissioner to Australia.
