Amb. Manjeev Singh Puri

Manjeev Singh Puri is a former Indian diplomat who has served as Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Nepal. He was also Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York. In addition, he has served twice in Germany (Bonn and Berlin), Cape Town, Muscat, Bangkok and Caracas. He joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1982 and retired on 31 December 2019 in the rank of (Permanent) Secretary to the Government of India after 38 years of service. During his long diplomatic career, Ambassador Puri developed special expertise on multilateralism and the United Nations (UN) and was actively involved in work relating to G8/G5 and G-20 Summits. His foreign policy expertise also covers Europe, Nepal, Africa, South-East Asia, the Gulf and the Americas. Ambassador Puri has nearly two decades of experience dealing intensively with global issues including climate change, sustainable development, environment, and economic growth matters. He was a lead negotiator for India at the UN on issues relating to the post 2015 development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was a senior member of India's delegation at various Climate Change negotiations, including the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December 2009 and before that at Montreal, Bali, Bonn and Poznan. Furthermore, he was involved with India's participation in the G8-G5 Summits from 2005 and was the point-person for the Major Economies Forum. He has a Masters’ degree in Management and did his BA (Honours) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He worked with Hindustan Unilever before joining the IFS. He is presently a Distinguished Fellow at TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) focussing on international climate change issues, sustainable development, and SDGs. His work on foreign exchange issues for green development in developing countries has been recognised by the G20 MDBs reform group. In addition, he is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow with the Anantha Centre, Adjunct Distinguished Fellow at Gateway House and a regular columnist and media invitee. He is also on an informal group – ‘friends of India’s G20 Sherpa’.