VISHNU Prakash, of the 1981 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada.

He is expected to take up his assignment shortly, according to a statement by India’s External Affairs Ministry

According to his profile on the website of the Indian embassy at Seoul, South Korea, after postings in Moscow and New Delhi he was assigned to New York where he handled Economic and Commercial matters.

In 1992 he was appointed Consul General of India in Vladivostok.

He was Director in India’s External Affairs Ministry, looking after Nepal and Bhutan between 1994 and 1997 during which period he also did a three-month sabbatical with the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii (USA).

He was next assigned as Counsellor (Political) first in Tokyo (1997-2000) and then in Islamabad (2001). In 2002 he was posted as Minister (Economic and Commercial) in Cairo.

He assumed office of the Consul General of India in Shanghai (China) in January 2006 and served there till August 2008, when he was appointed as Joint Secretary (XP) and Official Spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi.

He was appointed Ambassador in Seoul in January 2012.

Prakash is married with two children. His wife Neelam has a Master’s degree in economics. She is a keen practitioner of yoga and loves golf. His son Abhimanyu, 32, is with a financial company in New York and his daughter Katya, 28, is a doctor in San Diego, California.

Prakash is fond of travelling, reading, yoga and golf.

Welcome to Canada!