10th Heads of Missions Conference starts in Kevadia, Gujarat

Tags: place in news National Summits

The Ministry of External Affairs is organizing its 10th Heads of Missions Conference in Kevadia, Gujarat, from 20-22 October 2022.  The Conference will bring together 118 Heads of Indian Missions (Ambassadors and High Commissioners) from all over the world. 

The conference is always presided over by the Union External affairs Minister and this year S.Jaishankar presided over the meeting.  

The event is a platform for the government to brief the country's top diplomats on ways to promote India's interests abroad.

This year Prime Minister Modi who was on a two day (19-20) Visit to Gujarat also participated in the meeting.

Difference between Ambassador and High Commissioner 

Every country appoints a senior diplomat to a foreign country to represent the government in that country. The senior diplomat is called Ambassador or High Commissioner.

High Commissioner

If the country is a member of the Commonwealth and sends its diplomat to a fellow Commonwealth country then the senior diplomat will be called as High Commissioner. For eg. India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, as both the countries are members of the Commonwealth.

Ambassador

If the senior diplomat is appointed to a non-commonwealth country then he/she is called as Ambassador. For eg. India’s ambassador to Russia, United States of America, and France etc. These countries are not members of the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth of Nations 

Commonwealth is an association of Independent countries who were once part of the British Empire. However there are some countries like Rwanda, Mozambique, Gabon and Togo who were never part of the British Empire but still are the members of the Commonwealth. 

At present 56 countries are its members and the monarch of Britain is the head of the Commonwealth.