Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian diplomat and politician who held the ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India since 31 May 2019. Jaishankar was born on 9 January, 1955 in New Delhi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since 5 July 2019, representing Gujarat.
He has previously served as the Foreign Secretary from January 2015 to January 2018. He was born to K Subrahmanyam and Sulochana Jayasankar. He is the brother of historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam and S. Vijay Kumar, former Rural Development Secretary of India.
Jaishankar did his schooling from The Air Force School, Subroto Park, New Delhi, and is a graduate of St. Stephen's College at the University of Delhi. He has an MA in Political Science and an M.Phil. and PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where he specialised in nuclear diplomacy.
He married Kyoko Jaishankar and the couple has three children named, Medha Jaishankar, Dhruva Jaishankar, and Arjun Jaishankar. Jaishankar was India's longest-serving ambassador to China, with a four-and-a-half-year term. Jaishankar was appointed as Foreign Secretary of India on 29 January 2015.
The announcement of his appointment was made following a 28 January 2015 meeting of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by the PM, Narendra Modi. Jaishankar is widely credited by Nepalese analysts for being the ‘original planner of 2015 Nepal blockade’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at Kuksaroy Presidential Palace in Tashkent to conduct delegation-level bilateral talks. Both nations decided to elevate their 15-year strategic partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. They discussed expanding bilateral trade from one billion dollars to a target of five billion dollars by 2030 by addressing market access, connectivity, banking, and payment systems. Cooperation across digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, clean energy, space, nuclear energy, agriculture, and healthcare was highlighted. PM Modi announced a joint commitment of zero tolerance against terrorism, extremism, and separatism. In defense, direct linkages, co-production, and co-development between defense industries will be promoted. PM Modi also noted joint efforts to conserve Buddhist heritage sites in Uzbekistan, agreements on tourism cooperation, scholarships to promote the Hindi language, and shared interests in sports including chess, kurash, and kabaddi.
