Shiv Shankar Menon, the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan was appointed to the Foreign Secretary position on Thursday, surpassing 16 very important Indian Foreign Service representatives, including Secretary (East) Rajiv Sikri and Secretary (West) Shashi U. Tripathi - and two Ambassadors - T.C.A. Rangachari (Paris) and Shiv Shanker Mukherjee (Kathmandu).

Thus, he will assume Shyam Saran's office, who has been appointed as India's Special Envoy for negotiations that regard the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement, on October 1st. His term will last exactly 2 years and 10 months until July 31st 2009, a period in which he will have to change for the better all current diplomatic relations between India and other countries.

According to certain officials' statements, Saran had been asked by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whether or not he desired an extension in his Foreign Secretary office, an aspect to which the latter answered positively. Saran asked for a fixed term of the extension, yet that could not be granted to him due to technical issues.

However, it has been commented upon the fact that the Indian government managed to score a double goal with the fashion in which it performed the appointments for Saran and Menon: while Menon would design the Indian foreign policy and take care of all the issues that come up in this field, Saran would act as the main character in the nuclear pact India signed with the United States.

As far as Menon and his expertise in this department are concerned, he does possess quite a large experience in this field, representing India to four countries, whose importance is great: Israel, Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan. However, this aspect has not been the one that got him the job of the new Foreign Secretary, but his office at the Department of Atomic Energy, as Adviser to the Atomic Energy Commission. Many have labeled such experience to be of extreme importance, given that India has become a member of the atomic energy realm with the signing of the Indian-US nuclear deal.