India-Canada ties on the mend? New envoy named - who is Dinesh Patnaik

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday appointed a new ambassador for Canada, nearly nine months after New Delhi withdrew its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other senior diplomats stationed in Ottawa amid diplomatic tensions.

The ministry of external affairs has appointed Dinesh K Patnaik as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada.

“Shri Dinesh K Patnaik (IFS:1990), presently Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," the MEA said in a statement.

Who is Dinesh Patnaik?

Patnaik, a 1990 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer, is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain.

He completed his Bachelor from Delhi University in 1988 and then went on to IIM Calcutta for his Masters and later went to Vienna for completing his Masters in International Relation.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Patnaik earlier served as an Ambassador of Spain, Cambodia and Morocco.

Patnaik has more than 30 years of experience in assignments within India and abroad. He has served in the missions in Geneva, Dhaka, Beijing, and Vienna, and in the divisions focusing on Africa, Europe (West), the UN, and external publicity in the external affairs ministry.

Canada under Trudeau had last year “expelled” Indian high commissioner Sanjay Verma and several other Indian diplomats, forcing India to take similar action.

The Canada-India ties suffered a major rupture in September, 2023, when Canada's then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of a role in the murder in June that year of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Canadian national was a designated Khalistani terrorist in India. India has denied the allegation.
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