Ambassador Sibi George, Ambassador of India to Japan

Ambassador Sibi George

Ambassador Sibi George is Ambassador of India to Japan. Earlier he served as Ambassador to Switzerland, The Holy See and The Principality of Liechtenstein and Ambassador of India to Kuwait.

Ambassador George joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1993. He began his diplomatic career in Cairo where he served in the Mission as Political Officer. Subsequently he moved to Indian   Embassy in Doha where he handled Consular, Community, Information and Media affairs as First Secretary. Later he served as Political Counsellor in Indian High Commission in Islamabad and as Political Counsellor and Commercial Counsellor at Indian Embassy in Washington DC. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Indian Missions in Tehran and Riyadh.

At Headquarters of Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, he served in East Asia Division and also as coordinator of India - Africa Forum Summit. He later headed Administration, Establishment and Welfare Divisions in the Ministry of External Affairs. In 2014, Ministry of External Affairs conferred on him S.K. Singh Award for Excellence in Indian Foreign Service.

Hailing from Kottayam District in the southern State of Kerala in India, he belongs to Podimattam family of Pala. A gold medallist both for his graduation and post-graduation, he also studied in American University in Cairo. He was also trained at Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie; Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS), New Delhi; Indian Institute of Management(IIM), Ahmedabad; Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade(IIFT), New Delhi; and Indian School of Business(ISB), Hyderabad.

He is married to Joice John Pampoorethu, an artist by profession. They have two daughters ElhitaThampuran and Ayilya Thampuran and a son Jeff VakhanThampuran. Ambassador is well-versed in Arabic, Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil.

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