Senior Indian diplomat Gopal Baglay has been appointed as India’s High Commissioner to Australia, the country’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Wednesday (Sept.

13).A 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Baglay currently serves as India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.“Gopal Baglay, presently High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Australia.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” the statement read.Prior to being assigned to Sri Lanka, Baglay served as the Joint Secretary in the Indian Prime Minister’s Office, according to the Indian High Commission in Colombo.Before that, he served in various capacities in the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi, including as the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) Division, Director in the External Affairs Minister’s Office and in the United Nations Division and Deputy Secretary looking after Eastern - Central Europe.Abroad, Baglay served as Deputy High Commissioner of India in Pakistan (2011-14), Counsellor for Press, Information and Culture in the Embassy of India, Nepal (2005-08) and in other diplomatic capacities from 1994-2002 in Ukraine, Moscow and London.