The Indian Consulate in Sydney is set to undergo a change in leadership with the appointment of Dr S Janakiraman as the new Consul General.
Reliable sources have confirmed this development to Indian Link, although the Ministry of External Affairs has not officially announced the appointment.
Dr S Janakiraman is currently serving as the Indian Ambassador to Cuba and is expected to assume his new role as Consul General in Sydney shortly. He will be taking over from Mr. Manish Gupta, who has been serving as the Consul General of India in Sydney since 2019. Mr Gupta has been appointed as India’s Ambassador to Ghana.
Dr. Janakiraman is a seasoned diplomat, having joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2002. Throughout his career, he has held various significant positions in diplomatic missions around the world. His previous assignments include serving as Second Secretary Political, Commercial, and Administration in Brasilia, First Secretary Political, Commercial, Consular, and Administration in Lisbon, and heading the Commercial Wing in the Embassy of India in Yangon. He has also served as Deputy High Commissioner in Pretoria, South Africa, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Lesotho.
At the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, Dr. Janakiraman has contributed his expertise in various roles, including Deputy Secretary in the Latin American Division and Director for Eurasian Affairs. He also headed the e-governance and IT Division and the Cyber Diplomacy Divisions from 2019 to 2021. His international engagements include participating as an Indian expert in the 6th UNGGE on advancing state behaviour and the 1st OEWG for the developments in the field of ICT in the context of International Security.
Dr. Janakiraman’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, a Master of Science in Agricultural Entomology from the same institution, and a PhD from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. He is fluent in English, Tamil, Hindi, and Portuguese and has a passion for golf. He is married and has two daughters.
Mr. Gupta’s assignment to Ghana was officially revealed in August of this year and will take up his new appointment shortly. To bid farewell to Mr. Manish Gupta, the Consul General of India for Sydney and South Australia, the Australia India Business Council (AIBC) organized a farewell event on earlier this year.
During his address to the attendees, Mr. Gupta expressed his strong optimism regarding the future growth of trade between Australia and India. He emphasized that this growth was poised to surpass the projected estimates in the years to come. Mr. Gupta also shared his fond memories and positive experiences with the Australian diaspora community, reflecting on his time in Sydney.
There is also changing of the guard in Canberra with senior diplomat Gopal Baglay named as the next High Commissioner of India to Australia, succeeding Ambassador Manpreet Vohra.
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