New Indian High Commissioner arrives

India’s New High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha (left) being welcomed on his arrival last night at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo

India’s New High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha arrived last night to assume office shortly.

The Indian High Commission said Jha after presentation of credentials, will assume his new responsibilities as High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka. He succeeds Gopal Baglay who left the country last week after serving his term and will take up the position as India’s High Commissioner to Australia.

Jha, previously served as the Indian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union.

Prior to his assignment in Brussels, 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. During this time, Jha also had the distinction of serving as Charge d’ Affaires from January to September 2012.

Between 2013 and 2017, Jha 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 division.

In addition, 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 the architecture for development cooperation between India and Sri Lanka following the end of civil conflict in 2009.