Ronen Sen is one of India’s most seasoned diplomats. He was an ambassador in Moscow, ambassador in Washington, High Commissioner in UK and ambassador in Berlin, all at crucial times during India’s relationship with the governments there. A career diplomat, for 43 years he seriously avoided the media which got himself in a little bit of controversy when he made a statement about headless chickens. He was censored by Parliament, unfairly so because he later told us that he meant journalists and not Parliament.
More importantly, he was one of the first Indian diplomats who start using what has now become a common word – economic diplomacy. He was as an industrialist and a person who could tell you in micro detail about investing in a country, investing in a company and investing in people. Some people even call him the first Indian economic diplomat.
Interview
Q: The first Indian economic diplomat. Would I be right in saying that?
A: No. I think I have been giving more opportunities. I have had an incredible run of postings because I was given the opportunity which many of my more competent colleagues didn’t have.
Q: The one thing that you would be remembered for is the role you played in negotiations for what’s now known as Indo-US nuclear deal. Two years on, how do you think it’s turned out? Has India utilized all the opportunities?
A: Yes, there have been some ups and downs as you said. There has been of course the NSG, the clean exemption in a certain way has been made a little bit more restrictive. Not in terms of us not having the technology because we have these technologies. But when we talk of nuclear power production and involvement of international partners, this can create some problems, particularly for instance reprocessing. If we don’t have the reprocessing done over here, it is going to add on the unit and levy costs. There would be transportation and then other factors
The post Ronen Sen: India’s first economic diplomat appeared first on Gateway House.