H. E. Mr. Rakesh Sood joined the Indian Foreign Service in July 1976. He has served as India’s Ambassador to Nepal and Afghanistan and also Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India in Washington. Among his other assignments abroad, H.E. Mr. Sood has been First Secretary and Counsellor in India’s High Commission in Islamabad and First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Offices in Geneva, apart from serving in India’s diplomatic missions in Brussels and Dakar. H. E. Mr. Sood was Joint Secretary heading the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division in the Ministry of External Affairs. He speaks French, English, Hindi and Punjabi. He arrived in Paris on August 25, 2011.