Gaitri Issar Kumar

Kumar was born on 20 June 1962 in Bangalore to a Punjabi family. She joined the Indian Foreign Service as part of the 1986 batch of officers and learned Portuguese as her first and compulsory foreign language. She later studied German and gained working proficiency in French and Nepali along with fluency in Punjabi and Hindi.[1][2] After serving in several roles, including as the social secretary to the President of India in 2012,[1][2] Kumar was appointed Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union on 14 June 2017.[3] In a 2019 interview, she emphasised the culture of India and talked about the efforts of the embassy to promote it in Brussels.[4] During her ambassadorship, Kumar met with members of the European Parliament to convey India's perspective in light of resolutions against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.[5] After the retirement of her predecessor Ruchi Ghanashyam, Kumar became the next High Commissioner in London in June 2020.[6] As High Commissioner, Kumar has prioritized deepening Indo-UK ties and trade post-Brexit as well as promoting recognition of Indian territorial claims in the UK.[7][8][9]