Speakers

Ajay Bisaria has been Ambassador of India in Poland (concurrently accredited to Lithuania) from January 2015. He presented his credentials to the President of Poland in February 2015 and to the President of Lithuania in April 2015.

He earlier served as Joint Secretary (Eurasia) in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi (2009-2014), heading the Division coordinating overall policy and bilateral relations with eleven countries in the Eurasia region (including Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia). He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987 and has served in various policy assignments in the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce, as also in the Prime Minister’s Office. His overseas diplomatic postings have included stints in Indian Embassies in Moscow (1988-1991) and Berlin (1995-1999).

His recent assignments include a tenure at the World Bank in Washington DC as Advisor to the Executive Director (2004-2008), where he worked on development projects and aid issues. He has also served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of India (1999-2004), when he was aide to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He has a Masters degree in Public Policy from Princeton University, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and a Bachelors degree in Economics from Delhi University. His academic publications include, India: Towards a New Paradigm of Development Aid, for Foreign Trade Review (2009) and Bill Clinton and the Kargil Crisis: from Crisis Management to Coercive Diplomacy, a case study for Princeton University (2009).

He knows English, Russian and German.