Vijay Keshav Gokhale Biography 
Vijay Keshav Gokhale is an Indian diplomat and the current Foreign Secretary of India, who serves this term for 2 years. He succeeded S. Jaishankar as foreign secretary on 29 January 2018. He previously served as the Indian ambassador to China and Germany. Gokhale is an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1981 batch, and has served in Indian diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York. He also served as Deputy Secretary (Finance), Director (China and East Asia) and Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India. Gokhale has been tagged as one of the key persons to have resolved the Doklam crisis.
Vijay Keshav Gokhale hails from Pune, Maharashtra. He is married to Vandana Gokhale and has one son. He completed Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Delhi. He joined Indian Foreign Service in 1981. As a diplomat he has served as a part of missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York, apart from serving as ambassador at China and Germany. He served as High Commissioner of India to Malaysia during 2010-2013, followed by Indian Ambassador to Germany during 2013-2016 and Indian Ambassador to China during 2016-2017.
As a diplomat he has served in both mainland China and Taiwan. Gokhale took charge as India’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from January 2016 to October 2017. In 2018 January he was appointed as Foreign Secretary of India and currently serves this position for two years. Gokhale is four years junior to the former Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar who joined IFS in 1977. In his three-decade-long career, Gokhale has served in Germany, Hong Kong, Vietnam, United States and China.
Published: February 27, 2019
Updated: February 27, 2019
