Climate Change: An Indian perspective

Mr. Shyam Saran

December 14, 2008, 11.30AM - 1PM

About the Speaker

Mr. Shyam Saran was born on 4th September 1946. He belongs to the 1970 batch of the Indian Foreign Service. From 1971 to 1974, he served in Commission of India, Hong Kong as Third Secretary. Thereafter, he was posted to Embassy of India, Beijing, from 1974 to 1977, where he served as Second Secretary and later as First Secretary.

Mr. Saran served at the Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, as Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary from 1977 to 1979.

During July-November 1979, Mr. Saran participated as Fellow, United Nations' Disarmament Programme in Geneva, Vienna and New York, and thereafter, till June 1983, he served as First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, as Alternate Representative to the Conference on Disarmament. Subsequently, till September 1986, he was Counsellor and later Charge d' Affaires of the Embassy of India, Beijing. Thereafter, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Tokyo, till August 1989.

Mr. Saran served again at Headquarters, New Delhi, as Joint Secretary heading the Economic Division, the Multi-Economic Relations Division, and the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. Thereafter, he served as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, New Delhi, till December 1992, looking after External Affairs, Defence and Atomic Energy.

In 1992, Mr. Saran was appointed as High Commissioner of India to Mauritius where he worked till April 1997. After Mauritius, he served as Ambassador of India to Myanmar from April 1997 to July 2001. He has served as Ambassador of India to Indonesia from August 2001 to October 2002 and Nepal from November 2002 to July 2004. Mr. Saran served as Foreign Secretary from August 2004 to September 2006.

Since October 2006, Mr. Saran has been appointed as Special Envoy of Prime Minister on Nuclear Issues. He was also appointed as Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Climate Change Issues in April, 2008.

Mr. Saran holds a Post Graduate degree in Economics. His mother tongue is Hindi and apart from English, he knows Chinese and French.

He is married and has one son and a daughter.