The President of the Republic of India, Droupadi Murmu, has appointed Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Surinder Bhagat, as the High Commissioner-designate of India to Ghana.
President Murmu presented Letters of Credence to Shri Bhagat at Rashtrapati Bhavan, formally accrediting him as Head of Mission to Ghana, in a move aimed at strengthening and consolidating the six-decade-long bilateral relations between the two countries.
He succeeds former High Commissioner Shri Manish Gupta, who completed his two-year tenure in February 2026. During his term, trade between Ghana and India reached a record value of approximately $7 billion, reflecting deepening economic cooperation between the two nations.
Shri Bhagat currently serves as Joint Secretary for Overseas Employment and Protector General of Emigrants at India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a role that underscores his experience in labour migration diplomacy and international relations.
With nearly two decades of experience in the Indian Foreign Service, he has served in various diplomatic capacities across key global postings and policy divisions. His overseas assignments include serving as Counsellor (Political and Commerce) at the Embassy of India in Doha, First Secretary in Riyadh, and Third Secretary in Cairo.
At headquarters in New Delhi, he has held positions including Deputy Secretary in the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran Division, as well as Under Secretary in the West Asia and North Africa Division.
He also previously served as Acting Head of the Indian Mission in the Republic of Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he played a key role in addressing visa challenges faced by Indian students, particularly Global Korea Scholarship recipients, leading to improved visa facilitation processes with Korean authorities.
Shri Bhagat joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2007 after obtaining a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) degree from BITS Pilani in Rajasthan. He is fluent in Dogri, Hindi, Punjabi, and English, and has working knowledge of Arabic and Urdu.
He is expected to continue the legacy of Manish Gupta, whose tenure further strengthened India–Ghana relations, highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ghana in 2025.
During the visit, four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between the two countries covering cultural exchange, standards cooperation between the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Ghana Standards Authority, cooperation in traditional and alternative medicine, and the establishment of a framework for regular high-level joint commission meetings to strengthen bilateral engagement.
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