Newly-appointed Indian envoy likely to present credentials to Trump on Jan 11

India's newly-appointed Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who arrived here Wednesday, is likely to present his credentials to the US President Donald Trump on January 11, officials said.

Such a quick credentials ceremony for a foreign diplomat is rare in the American capital, given that in the past envoys of other countries, including those from India, have waited for weeks to formally present their diplomatic credentials to the US president.

Diplomatic credentials is a letter that formally appoints a diplomat as the ambassador to another country. The letter is addressed from one head of state to another. It is presented by the ambassador to the receiving head of state in a formal ceremony. The ceremony further marks the beginning of the official period of ambassadorship.

It is a common practice for ambassadors to initially present temporary credentials to the Department of State once they arrive in host countries before eventually presenting it to the head of state.

Shringla replaced Navtej Singh Sarna, who retired on December 31. He was earlier posted in Dhaka as the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

A 1984-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Shringla hails from Darjeeling. He has previously served in various Indian diplomatic missions including Paris, Hanoi, Durban, Tel Aviv and at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in New York.