People > Shyam Saran
Ambassador Shyam Saran is a career diplomat born on September 4, 1946. Since joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1970, he has served in several capitals of the world including Beijing, Tokyo and Geneva. He has been India’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal and High Commissioner to Mauritius. In the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, he headed the Economic Division and the Multilateral Economic Division and also headed the East Asia Division which handles relations with China and Japan. As a Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office in 1991/92, he advised the Prime Minister on foreign policy, nuclear and defence related issues. After a career spanning 34 years in the Indian Foreign Service, he was appointed India’s Foreign Secretary in 2004 and held that position till his retirement from service in September 2006. Subsequent to his retirement, he was appointed Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US civil nuclear issues and later as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change.
He has now concluded his assignment in Government and returned to being a private citizen. During his last two assignments, Ambassador Saran served as Prime Minister’s personal representative or “Sherpa” at the Gleneagles and St. Petersburg G8+G5 summits and was present at the Toyako and L’Aquila Summits as an advisor on Climate Change issues. He also attended the Pittsburgh G-20 summit as a member of the Indian delegation.
Currently, he serves as Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, which is an autonomous think tank specializing in studies on economic and trade related issues. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Centre for Policy Research, a prestigious think tank which covers a wide range of political, social and economic issues, including foreign policy related issues. He speaks and writes regularly on a variety of subjects.
On January 26, 2011, Ambassador Saran was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India for his contribution to Civil Service. The Padma Bhushan is the third highest national award in the country. Ambassador Saran holds a post-Graduate degree in Economics. He speaks Hindi, English and Chinese and is conversant in French.
India and China enjoyed more than a thousand years of uninterrupted trade and cultural exchanges during the first millennium CE.
The history of ancient civilizational links between India and China, including the spread of Buddhist religion and philosophy from India to China, are often cited as the enduring basis for India-China friendship.
It isn't just India in Ladakh that China is provoking – and the nature of its provocation isn't just military.
In a recent statement, President Xi Jinping has said that “dual circulation” is by no means a closed domestic loop and reaffirmed that opening up was a fundamental national policy.
Continuing Chinese Intrusion Very Worrying, Modi’s Response Took Pressure Off Beijing: Shyam Saran
Dr. Happymon Jacob speaks to Amb. Shyam Saran on contemporary Indian Foreign policymaking.
The pursuit of a closer security partnership with the US does not mean that India should follow the US lead on its other important relationships.
The future of democracy in Asia and the world may well be determined by choices India makes.
Srinath Raghavan is joined by Shyam Saran as they discuss the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the Sino-Indian border. They discuss how the LAC impacts and is impacted by the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing.
C Uday Bhaskar, Amb. Shyam Saran and Admiral Arun Prakash dwell on the nature of the military and politico-diplomatic challenges that New Delhi has to address in context of the India-China faceoff & bloody clashes.
Among other things, a crystallisation of our political and security arrangements with countries which share our concerns over China's aggressive posture is required.
There is no coincidence. China’s assertiveness is based on its judgement that the US, which it considers its chief rival and adversary, is a power in relative decline;
It is aiming to change facts on the ground, incrementally alter the balance of power, and assert its dominance
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran spoke on length about the ongoing tension between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran was PM’s Special Envoy,
The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis of an unprecedented nature that is reshaping the global order. Countries are grappling to control the spread of the disease by announcing lockdowns and closing borders.
With pilot runs for a digital yuan underway, its monetary system could well become an exemplar for other countries.
Inner turmoil taking place in China, but change in leadership unlikely
There is no escaping the fact that COVID-19 may not have become a pandemic if China were a democracy with a free flow of information through an independent media and accountable political leadership.
Covid aftermath will reinforce the trend towards a more interventionist State.
A leadership role by India in mobilising world collaboration would be in keeping with its traditional activism globally
Covid-19 nudges India to pursue regional cooperation through both SAARC and BIMSTEC
India’s image and credibility are taking a beating, and it does matter
Dealing with it as if it were a singular phenomenon occurring in a single domain will not work
The world is facing a public health and economic crisis, with major implications for global stability.
India is in the vortex of the multiple transitions the world is going through. We have entered a new decade of its own mix of promise and peril.
It would be wrong to say there was no substance to Trump's India tour. In fact, the mutual pay-off was significant.
By not joining the trading arrangement, India risks becoming a rule taker rather than a rule maker
As an ASEAN country, Myanmar is also India’s gateway to South-East Asia. No Act East policy is possible without Myanmar’s active participation.
Shyam Saran expressed deep disappointment in India’s decision to pull out of the RCEP and underlined that despite similar domestic arguments the decision of the Narsimha Rao government to liberalise the economy in 1991.
The India-Nepal border is unique in that neither country has allowed a political boundary to interrupt the age-old traffic of people who share ties of kinship, religion and culture.
Our influence is expanding, but the term is devoid of real operational significance.
As US-China competion intensifies, India should refrain from taking sides.
It is now the currency of power - one with ominous implications for India.
The new government must continue to strengthen relations with the United States, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia as part of countervailing and constraining Chinese power.
Losing this engine, which has been shoring up global growth, may be more disruptive than we imagine
Mr Xi has introduced major departures from this approach.
The former Foreign Secretary on the difficult waters in which India must chart its independent strategic trajectory.
China, a large importer of Iranian oil, is likely to use its petro-yuan to bypass payment in dollars. This may offer India a possible solution.
Introductory section concludes with a picture of Jawaharlal Nehru with a young Dalai Lama at Teen Murti House in 1964 just before Nehru died
India cannot sustain an expanding political and security role in the Indo-Pacific with a shrinking economic role.
Trump has created an opportunity for China to make common cause with American allies both in Asia and Europe. But in the long run, India’s relations with China will remain competitive in nature...
This will require a major policy overhaul away from the lurch towards populism that is becoming more evident as general elections loom large. .
Modi-Xi summit gives India the chance to expand its diplomatic options in the neighbourhood and beyond.
The domestic political crisis in the Maldives may have created fewer waves in India.
This paper analyses the emerging global order where China aspires to be a key player and how handling of these seminal challenges will determine the prospects of its quest for global leadership.
Despite the great strides made, India-Asean relations have not measured up to expectations. There continue to be significant asymmetries in this expanding engagement.
This paper analyses the supply side economic reforms in China by taking the Third Plenum of the 18th Congress Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in November 2013 as its starting point.
Just as Beijing has sown discord among Asean members through intimidation and blandishments, it’s trying to do the same in India’s neighbourhood
Internationalisation of Chinese currency remains on track despite recent stalling
America's much-anticipated announcement to withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Agreement finally came
The overall strategy underlying Modi’s foreign policy is sound.he challenge going forward must take into account the changed global geopolitical terrain.
India needs an alternative narrative which contests the inevitability of Chinese hegemony
The world is at an inflexion point from which a new order of power could emerge.
Should try and shape multipolar order with the support of other major powers...
OBOR का मक़सद केवल भौतिक मूलढाँचा ही तैयार करना नहीं है, बल्कि यह तो इस पहल का अभिन्न अंग है।
OBOR is not just an economic initiative. It has obvious political and security implications.
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