Namgya C Khampa, the Charge d'Affaires at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, represented the country at US President Donald Trump's first meeting of the Board of Peace on Gaza on Thursday. India participated as an observer.
Trump announced the Board of Peace during the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos last month and said he wanted "everyone to be a part" of the body. He claimed it was so significant that it could one day compete with the UN.
The meeting was held at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, and officials from nearly 50 countries attended. Of these countries, 27 were formal members of the Board of Peace. The remaining participants, including India and the European Union, attended as observers.
Who is Namgya C Khampa?
Born in 1977, Khampa is a 2000-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). She has over two decades of experience in Indian diplomacy.
Khampa served twice in India's diplomatic mission in China, first from 2002 to 2006 and again from 2013 to 2016. She has worked in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2013.
While in New York, she was elected as a Member of the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) from 2011 to 2013. Later, she also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Khampa has served as India's High Commissioner to Kenya, where she was responsible for strengthening India-Kenya bilateral relations and promoting trade and development in the region. During this time, she was concurrently accredited as India's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia.
She is currently serving as the Charge d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington, DC. She is a senior diplomat who leads an embassy in the absence of a formally appointed ambassador and oversees day-to-day diplomatic operations.
