New Delhi: The Central government on Tuesday appointed seasoned diplomat Sanjay Kumar Verma as India’s next High Commissioner to Canada. Amit Kumar, currently Consulate General of India in Chicago, will be the next ambassador to the Republic of Korea. Kumar holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.

Verma, a 1988-batch IFS officer and presently India’s Ambassador to Japan, is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Verma, 57, succeeds Acting High Commissioner Anshuman Gaur.

Among his other postings, Verma has served in Indian missions in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam and Turkey. He has also served as the Consul General of India in Milan, Italy. Verma graduated from Patna University and went to IIT Delhi for Masters in Physics.

Amit Kumar, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1995, was earlier the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Washington DC with Ambassador-rank. His other recent assignments included stints as Joint Secretary for Development Partnership Administration and as Joint Secretary for Human Resources Management in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. /BI/