BIOGRAPHY: MEA JOINT SECRETARY GAITRI KUMAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 002056 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/INS, INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IN SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHY: MEA JOINT SECRETARY GAITRI KUMAR Classified By: PolCouns Ted Osius for reasons 1.4 (B,D) DIPLOMATIC CAREER -------------- ¶1. (C) Gaitri Kumar replaced Subrahmanyam Jaishankar as Ministry for External Affairs (MEA),Joint Secretary (Americas) in January. She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. Prior to her current assignment, her career trajectory is as follows: --1987-1989 - Third Secretary/Second Secretary at Embassy Lisbon. --1989-1990 - Under Secretary in the Maldives and Myanmar division at the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA). --1990-1994 - Regional Passport Officer in Bangalore. --1994-1997 - First Secretary at Embassy Kathmandu. --1997-1998 - Deputy Secretary in the Finance division at MEA. --1999-2002 - Deputy Secretary/Director, Establishment, which overseas budgets and grants at MEA. --2002-2004 - Counselor in the Permanent Mission in Geneva. --2004-2006 - Brief stints as Director - Nepal-Bhutan, Finance and Americas divisions. --2006 - Joint Secretary (Establishment) at the MEA, DEEP COMMITTMENT TO THE U.S. -------------- ¶2. (C) Deeply committed to the Indo/U.S. relationship, Kumar describes herself as the USG's strongest advocate within the GOI. The DCM reports her as stating, "my job is to make sure you get as many contracts as possible." She told PolCouns recently, "You'll never find any red tape on the files I manage." However, Embassy officers note that she is intimidated by the reputation of her predecessor as a politically astute and brilliant interlocutor. Kumar works very hard, which is demonstrated by her presence at the office every Saturday. PERSONALLY A BIT OF A MYSTERY -------------- ¶3. (C) On a personal level, Kumar is hard to get to know. She is straightforward, comes directly to the point and does not engage in diplomatic banter or small talk on personal subjects. An arts graduate, Kumar speaks English, Hindi and Nepali. She is 46 and married with two daughters, ages 15 and ¶8. PYATT