Smita Pant and Hemant H. Kotalwar appointed as the next ambassadors of India to Uzbekistan and Finland

New Delhi: India has appointed Smita Pant and Hemant H. Kotalwar as the next ambassadors of the country to Uzbekistan and Finland.

Mr. Kotalwar is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of 1996 Batch while Ms. Pant is 2001 Batch.

Ms. Smita Pant is currently serving as the Joint Secretary (JS) in the Ministry while Mr. Hemant H. Kotalwar is presently Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic.

Both ambassadors will take up the assignment shortly.

"Ms. Smita Pant (IFS:2001), presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Uzbekistan", the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in its statement on December 26.

"She is expected to take up the assignment shortly", the MEA also said.

Releasing the press statement on December 26, the MEA said: "Shri Hemant H. Kotalwar (IFS:1996), presently Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Finland."

"He is expected to take up the assignment shortly", the MEA added.

Mr. Hemant H. Kotalwar was then posted to Algiers (2000-2002) as Second Secretary dealing with Political and Economic Affairs.

He briefly served as Under Secretary in MEA on the Pakistan Desk of PAI Division and was later posted as the Regional Passport Officer, Mumbai. He returned to Delhi as the Director dealing with the office of Minister of State for External Affairs.

He was posted as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to WTO, Geneva from 2011 to 2014 where he dealt with trade negotiations dealing with Development and IPR issues. In 2014 he was posted as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

India and Uzbekistan historical and cultural ties while Finland and India have traditionally enjoyed warm and friendly relations.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accompanied by Smt. Indira Gandhi visited Uzbekistan in 1955 and 1961.

Over the years there has been a steady exchange of high level visits between the two countries.

Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual bilateral meeting on 16 March 2021.

In their first meeting, the Prime Ministers had an extensive discussion on how to deepen concrete cooperation between their countries and addressed a number of key international issues.