New Delhi: India’s Ambassador to Qatar Vipul has been appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the government said in an official announcement on Tuesday. Vipul, a 1998 batch IFS officer, is expected to assume the new assignment soon. The appointment is significant as it is the first time that a non-Muslim will head India’s diplomatic mission in Riyadh.

While India has appointed mostly career diplomats as ambassadors to the Kingdom, political appointees have also served as envoys to Riyadh. MOH Farooq served as the Indian ambassador from 2004 to 2009 and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed from 2016 to 2019. Vipul has served in Indian Missions in Cairo, Colombo, Geneva and Dubai.

He has also headed the Gulf Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. news network.