New Delhi: 1994-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Vani Sarraju Rao has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Italy.
She is presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Vani Rao is a 1994-batch IFS in MEA. She is an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Hyderabad. She joined the Americas Division in the Ministry of External Affairs in early August 2020 as Joint Secretary. She was Ambassador to Finland and Estonia from 2017 to 2020.
Vani Sarraju Rao succeeds Neena Malhotra.
Dr. Neena Malhotra is a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer. Dr. Malhotra has a Ph.D degree from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. She was selected as a scientist (S1) on the basis of Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Examination conducted at all-India level. She is currently Ambassador of India to Italy. She was serving as Additional Secretary (Indo-Pacific) covering Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Southern Divisions of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) before her current assignment as Ambassador of India to Italy. She has been Head of the Divisions of Passport, Visas (PV), E governance & Information Technology (EG&IT), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and East & Southern Africa (E&SA).
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in its statement on October 27 that "Ms. Vani Sarraju Rao (IFS:1994), presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Italy."
"She is expected to take up the assignment shortly", the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in its statement.
