V. Krishnamoorthy takes charge as new Deputy High Commission in Chennai

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai

CHENNAI, 04 August (asiantribune.com): Ambassador Vadivel Krishnamoorthy, a senior career diplomat, took charge as the Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Chennai on August 1.

He succeeds Mr. P.M. Amza who completed his three-year posting here and moved to London as the Deputy High Commissioner there on July 31.

Mr.V. Krishnamoorthy is the first diplomat of Indian Tamil origin to be posted at the sensitive centre here. It is believed he is personally hand-picked by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakshe for this important region, coming as it does after the end of the war against the LTTE and its fallout thereafter.

Mr. Krishnamoorthy has earlier served as envoy at Dhaka (Bangladesh) and has completed his three-year term before he was selected for this responsible centre, which is close to the heart of the Lankan President. He has won his president’s confidence and the third-generation Indian-origin Tamil is expected to excel here.

Among his many achievements while posted in Bangaladesh, the one that filled his heart was his having secured the hair-relic of the Lord Buddha to his country from a Buddhist Monestry in Chittakong. The relic is being worshiped ‘tabernacled’ in a Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka. He remembers a large number of Sri Lankans working there, whose children’s educational needs he cared.

He hails from Hatton in Nuwera Eliya district, and had his schooling at the prestigious Hatton Highlands College, his degree from the University of Peradeniya, PG diploma in Educational Management at Maharagama and Master of Arts in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University, Australia.

His forefathers went from Ramanad district in Tamil Nadu, three generation before to work in the tea estates in the Central Province of Sri Lanka.

He carries a rich experience of 29 years of public service, which includes18 years in foreign service, holding variety of posts. His last posting was in Bangladesh (2006-09). Before that he was the Director-General of the UN and Multilateral Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years (2004-06), when he also attended the 60th United Nations General Assembly session in New York and the Board of Governors Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Mr. Krishnamoorthy had earlier served in various capacities in The Netherlands (2001-04) and China (1992-97). While serving as the Minister Counsellor at the Embassy in The Netherlands, inter alia, he functioned as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

He has also worked as the Director/ East Asia desk, Deputy Chief of Protocol (1999-2001, Assistant director/ West desk (1992) and Director of the Sri Lankan Institute of International Relations (2004-06).

He is married and has two daughters. He speaks Tamil, Sinhala, English and Chinese.

36 Lankan fishermen released

As this correspondent was waiting for his interview with the new envoy, he was solving the problem of release of Sri Lankan fishermen, on his very second day of taking charge. This correspondent had a news to cover too: 36 Lankan fishermen were getting released with their six boats. They will be handed over by the Indian Coast Guard to Lankan Navy personnel on August 7 at the International Maritime Border Line (ISBT).