New Delhi [India], September 4 (ANI): Rohit Rathish, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Seychelles.

Rathish, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 2006 batch, will take the assignment shortly, MEA said.

India's bilateral engagement with Seychelles is characterised by our historical contacts and continuous support to Seychelles for its security.

Today, India-Seychelles relations embody close friendship, understanding and cooperation. It was in the year 1770 that a small group of five Indians landed in Seychelles as plantation workers along with seven African slaves and 15 French colonists, and were recorded as the first inhabitants of the Islands.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit (10-11 March 2015) to Seychelles was the first Prime Ministerial-level visit from India in 34 years. It was a highly successful visit with substantive outcomes: signing of four Agreements/MoUs, inauguration of the Coastal Surveillance Radar System (CRS) Project, announcements of gifting of a second Dornier aircraft to Seychelles and a 3-month gratis visa for Seychelles nationals for travel to India.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Ministry of External Affairs appointed Deepak Mittal as the next Ambassador of India to the United Arab Emirates.

The IFS officer from the 1998 batch has previously served as India's Ambassador to Qatar. He played a key role in establishing the first formal diplomatic contact between India and the Taliban after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Deepak Mittal met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, then head of the Taliban's Political Office in Doha, in 2021. (ANI)