Rajiv Bhatia

Senior Advisor

Expertise: Indo-Pacific (including Southeast Asia), Myanmar, South Asia, Africa, Blue Economy, Multilateral Groupings, Indian Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia is Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Programme at Gateway House,. He is a member of CII’s two significant bodies: International Trade Policy Council and Africa Committee. He served as Chair of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s (FICCI) Core Group of Experts on BIMSTEC and continues to head its Task Force on Blue Economy. He is a founding member of the Kalinga International Foundation and a member of the governing council of Asian Confluence.

As Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) from 2012 to 2015, he played a key role in strengthening India’s Track-II research and outreach activities. During a 37-year innings in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), he served as Ambassador to Myanmar and Mexico and as High Commissioner to Kenya, South Africa and Lesotho. He dealt with a part of South Asia, while posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

A prolific columnist, he is also a regular speaker on foreign policy issues in India and abroad. He was Senior Visiting Research Fellow from 2011 to 2013 at the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore.

Ambassador Bhatia holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Allahabad University.