New Delhi, Sep 2 (UNI) Senior Indian diplomat Deepak Mittal, who previously served as Indian Ambassador to Qatar and also did a stint with the PMO, has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
A Ministry of External Affairs statement said: “Dr. Deepak Mittal appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the United Arab Emirates. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.”
An Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1998 batch, Mittal served as Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister’s Office after he finished his term as Ambassador of Qatar in March 2023. He had joined as envoy to Doha in August 2020.
During his term as envoy to Qatar he had met representatives of the Afghan Taliban government in Doha, days after the Taliban overran Kabul in August 2021, and had discussed about the need for the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals.
Qatar had been playing the role of interlocutor by hosting delegations from various countries at Doha during their parleys with the Taliban.
Mittal is also reported to have played a role in securing the release of eight Indian Navy veterans who had been arrested by Qatar in 2023 on charges of espionage and were sentenced to death. The men were freed by the Qatari government last year, in a diplomatic victory for India, though the details are kept under wraps.
He had headed the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran desk before being sent as envoy to Qatar. As JS PAI he is reported to have been part of the Indian team that defended Kulbhushan Jadhav at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Mittal’s posting as Indian Ambassador to the UAE comes amid the growing close relations between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi, a key player in the Gulf, and the burgeoning bilateral trade and strategic ties.
