New Indian ambassador to US Navtej Sarna assumes charge

India's new ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna, who arrived in the city a few days before the general elections, has kicked off his engagements with a meeting with powerful Democratic Senator Jack Reed.

"Enjoyed meeting with Ambassador Navtej Sarna to discuss the strong relationship between US and India," Reed, Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a tweet after meeting the top Indian diplomat at the Capitol Hill yesterday.

A 1980 batch foreign service official, Sarna also met Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in the current Congress, who is also co-Chair of the powerful House India Caucus. Sarna presented his credentials to Peter Selfridge, Chief of Protocol, State Department on November



9.

He is expected to present his formal diplomatic credentials to outgoing US President Barack Obama later. Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs until 2008, Sarna has previously been India's ambassador to Israel and the Indian High Commissioner to the UK. Yet it was also Harper who hosted secret talks between US and Cuban officials in 2014 leading to the rapprochement.

Today, Cuba continues to welcome a huge influx of Canadian tourists each year -- 1.3 million or nearly 40 percent of all tourist visitors. Bilateral trade remains modest at less than $1.0 billion annually. Despite their warm diplomatic ties, many Canadian companies do not invest in Cuba over fear they will be blocked from the US market.