Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty

Pinak Chakravarty was a Visiting Fellow with ORF's Regional Studies Initiative where he oversees the West Asia Initiative Bangladesh and selected ASEAN-related issues. He joined the ORF in October 2014.

A former member of the Indian Foreign Service (1977 batch), he has served as a diplomat in Indian Diplomatic Missions in Cairo, Jeddah and London. Later, was Consul-General of India in Karachi, 1994-1995; Counsellor/Minister, DCM at the Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv, 1995-1999; and Deputy High Commissioner at Dhaka, 1999-2002. At the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), he served as Deputy Chief of Protocol, Deputy Secretary/Director in the Americas Division and as Director, SAARC Summit Secretariat, 1995. He was the Chief of Protocol from 2002 to 2006, after which he was nominated as Ambassador to the Philippines but later shifted to Bangladesh where he served as High Commissioner from 2007 to 2009. From 2010 to 2011 he served as Ambassador to Thailand. Returning to Delhi he served as Special Secretary (Public Diplomacy) before he was appointed Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA. He retired from service in September 2013.

He is a regular contributor to newspapers, journals and books. His latest journal article is titled "Bangladesh-India Ties: Pragmatic Transformation," published in the <em>Indian Foreign Affairs Journal</em>. One of his recent book chapters is titled "Bridging the Hiatus of History: India’s Look East Policy" in <em>India’s Asia-Pacific Engagement: Impulses and Imperatives</em> (Manohar 2015).

He also participates in TV programmes on foreign policy and strategic affairs.