ASHOK
SAJJANHAR
Secretary,
National Foundation for Communal Harmony
Paper Title: ''Peace and Development - The Indian Experience''
Abstract
Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar, Secretary, National
Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) is a career diplomat and has served as Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan,
Sweden and Latvia. He has also held several significant positions in
Indian Embassies in Washington, Moscow, Brussels, Geneva, Bangkok, Teheran and
Dhaka. He negotiated for India in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. A keen proponent
of Indian culture, he was the Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre in
Moscow where he was instrumental in ushering in a new paradigm in cultural
diplomacy. The US-India
Nuclear Deal was signed by PM Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Bush during
Ambassador Sajjanhar’s term in Washington in 2005. The EU-India Strategic Partnership as well as negotiations for EU-India
Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement were launched during his tenure in Brussels.
Currently
Ambassador Sajjanhar is President, Institute of Global Studies; Visiting
Professor at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development,
Chandigarh; and Member, Governing Board of Sanskriti Educational Foundation,
Indian Institute of Law and Management, VPMs Centre of International Studies,
and several others.