Odisha-born IFS appointed Ambassador of India to Spain

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Government of India today appointed Dinesh Kumar Patnaik as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Spain.

Patnaik, who hails from Odisha, is currently working as the Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said Patnaik, the 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer is expected to take up the new assignment shortly.

Patnaik is a career diplomat of IFS with experience of over 25 years in a variety of interesting and challenging assignments.

He earlier served in Indian Missions in Geneva, Dhaka, Beijing and Vienna. At Headquarters, he also served in the Europe West, External Publicity, Africa and UN Divisions.

Patnaik served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Vienna from 2009 to 2012. He was India’s Ambassador to Cambodia from 2012 to 2015.

Also, he worked was India’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco from 2015 to 2016. He was Deputy High Commissioner of India to London from 2016 to 2018.

He was Additional Secretary (Indian Ocean Region) from November 2018 to July 2019 and thereafter Additional Secretary (CPV&OIA) from July 2019 to January 2020 in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Also read: Odia IFS Appointed As High Commissioner Of India To Tanzania

Patnaik holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata. He also holds a Master’s degree in Advanced International Studies from the University of Vienna and Certificate in International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna.

Patnaik is married to Poonam, who is an international educator. They have two daughters.