Vijay Gokhale joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1981. His previous diplomatic assignments include postings in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York. He has also served as Deputy Secretary (Finance), Director (China & East Asia) and Joint Secretary (East Asia) during his stints at the Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was High Commissioner of India to Malaysia from January 2010 to October 2013, Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany from October 2013 to January 2016, and Ambassador of India to the People’s Republic of China from January 2016 to October 2017. He served as Secretary (ER) from October 2017 to January 2018. Mr. Gokhale was Foreign Secretary from January 2018 to January 2020.