ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ambassador Kanwal Sibal, with 41 years of experience in diplomacy, is a former Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. He has been Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington DC (with personal rank of Ambassador).

He was a member of India’s National Security Advisory Board from 2008 to 2010 and is on the Executive Council of the Vivekananda International Foundation. He is also an Adviser to the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

He is a member of Leaders for Peace, an international forum of retired prime ministers, foreign ministers, heads of international bodies etc, established by former French Prime Minister Mr. Raffarin. He was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit by the French President in 2004, the second highest distinction in this Order. In 2017 he received the Padma Shree award from the President of India for public service. The same year, he was decorated by the Russian Foreign Minister for Contributions to International Cooperation.

He has written more than 700 Op-Eds and other articles on Indian foreign policy and international affairs for major national and foreign media. He is active on X. He was appointed Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in September 2023.

His book of poems “Snowflakes of Time” was published by Bloomsbury in 2016.