Sunjay Sudhir back in oil ministry
Indian Foreign Service officer Sunjay Sudhir is in familiar territory once again, after returning to the oil ministry last month (December) as joint secretary international cooperation following a stint in Sydney, Australia, where he was India's consul general for two years.
"I left for Australia in May 2014," Sudhir told us during a curtain-raiser held on January 15 for the India Africa Hydrocarbon Conference in Delhi on January 21-22. Sudhir believes trade between India and Africa, presently $70bn/year, is set to grow exponentially.
"In 2014-2015, India imported 32m tonnes of oil from Africa," he said. "We imported 2.2m tonnes of LNG from Nigeria.
Indian companies have invested $6bn in countries like Mozambique and South Sudan." Sudhir said he will lead a ministry initiative to support private Indian companies to acquire overseas assets.
Before leaving for Australia he was oil ministry joint secretary international cooperation from September 21, 2012 till May 2014.