Ambassador Profile
Dr. Rajesh Ranjan
D.O.B: 11 October, 1974
Dr. Rajesh Ranjan has assumed the charge as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire on January 9, 2023.
Dr. Rajesh Ranjan joined the Indian Foreign Service in December 2001. He has served in the Indian Embassy in Moscow as Second/Third Secretary dealing with Political and Commercial issues (August 2003-July 2004). From August 2004-July 2007, he was posted at Consulate General of India in St. Petersburg as Consul dealing with Commercial and Consular issues. He was further posted to Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa (August 2007-July 2010) where he has served as First Secretary dealing with India-Africa Political and Commercial issues including 1st India-Africa Forum Summit and bilateral relationship with Ethiopia and Djibouti.
From July 2010-September 2012, he has served as Deputy Secretary, India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) at East & Southern Africa Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi dealing with India-Africa relations in general and 2nd India-Africa Forum Summit, in particular. He also handled the bilateral relations with Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Further, he assumed the charge of First Secretary/Consular at Permanent Mission of India in Geneva (October 2012-April 2015) dealing with Labour, Climate Change and Health issues.
He was again posted back to Headquarters in May 2015 and he handled the issues related with the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit as Director (East and Southern Africa till March 2016. He briefly looked after the Oversees Indians’ issues as Director (Oversees Employment& Protectorate General Emigrant Division) at OIA Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (April 2016-June 2016).
Dr. Rajesh Ranjan was Director in the Americas Division at Ministry of External Affairs (15 July 2016-23 March 2018) and he handled issues related to India’s relations with US and Canada.
Before joining as Ambassador of India in Abidjan, Dr. Rajesh Ranjan served as the High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Botswana from March 2018 to January 2023.
Dr. Ranjan holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics (Public Finance) from Allahabad University. He is married to Dr. Upma Ranjan and has one daughter and one son.