Pankaj Sharma

Residency Dates: March 8-12, 2027

Ambassador Pankaj Sharma joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1991 and has spent more than three decades working on political, security, disarmament, economic and development partnership issues for India. From 2022 to 2026, he served as India’s Ambassador to Mexico and was also concurrently accredited as High Commissioner to Belize. During his time in Mexico, he worked to expand political, trade and cultural ties between the two countries, including helping launch the Mexico-India Friendship Group in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies. From 2018 to 2022, he was India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland.

He has extensive experience in disarmament and international security.  From 2016 to 2018, he was Joint Secretary and Head of the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, where he handled nonproliferation and arms control, civil nuclear cooperation, space cooperation, maritime security and export controls. From 2012 to 2016, he was on deputation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague and also served as India’s Alternate Permanent Representative to the OPCW. His overseas postings have taken him to Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Israel and the Netherlands, and in New Delhi he has also worked in the UN Political, East Europe, and Technical Cooperation and Economic Relations divisions.

He holds a Ph.D. in Management/Information Technology and a Master of Technology in Management and Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. From 2001 to 2002, he was also a Visiting Faculty Member in Management Information Systems at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management.