New Delhi [India], Jan. 29 (NT): Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale, on Monday, will take charge as the next foreign secretary today and assumed his services to Govt .of India.

Gokhale succeeded Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as the latter completed his term on January 28.

Gokhale earlier has served as the secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Gokhale  fromThe 1981 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was the Indian ambassador to China from January 20, 2016, to October 21, 2017, and played a key responsibility in resolving the 73-day-long Doklam Standoff between New Delhi and Beijing.

He will serve two-year tenure as the foreign secretary. He has also served as India's top envoy to Germany. He had worked in Indian missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi and in New York.

His future Key tasks will be-

• To plan the visit by King Abdullah II of Jordan,
• Working on the tour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Palestine, the UAE, and Oman,
• Organizing the visit of the France president Emmanuel Macron who is to visit India in March for an international conference on the launch of the International Solar Alliance. (NT)