A full-fledged Indian consulate in Auckland is a step closer to opening as the Indian government has named the bureaucrat who will head the mission.
The Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr Madan Mohan Sethi, is scheduled to move to Auckland when the consulate begins operations later this year.
On December 27, 2023, the Indian government approved a proposal to open a full service consulate in Auckland, a move described as one that will strengthen the South Asian giant’s diplomatic footprint in New Zealand.
India’s main diplomatic mission in Aotearoa currently operates out of Wellington. An honorary consulate opened in 2017 in Auckland to serve Kiwi-Indians in this city, and Bhav Dhillion was appointed the first Hon Consul of India in Auckland.
Sethi joined Indian Foreign Service in 2006. From 2006 to 2008, he was under training at Foreign Service Institute in Delhi. For a brief period in 2008 he worked as an Attache in the BSM (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar & Maldive) Division of the ministry in Delhi.
From September 2008 to September 2010, he worked as a Language Trainee in the Embassy of India, Yangon, also holding the full responsibility of the Culture and Information Wing of the Indian embassy there.
From September 2010 to February 2014, he was the Consul General in Consulate General of India in Myanmar. From March 2014 to August 2017, he handled the responsibility as Political and Commercial Officer in Embassy of India, Rome. In the absence of the regular officer, Sethi also represented India in Food and Agricultural Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Food Programme from July 2016 to August 2017.
From August 2017 to April 2019, Sethi handled works related to the ASEAN ML Division in the foreign ministry. From May 2019 to May 2020, he discharged the charge of Director, Central Europe Division.
Sethi was born in 1973 in Khurda district of Odisha. A medical graduate, he had worked in four different state hospitals in Odisha for about four years before joining the Indian Foreign Service.
He is married to Swagatika Bhuyan and has two sons-Anshul Kumar (12) and Abhik Kumar (9).
The new Consulate General of India in Auckland is likely to open within this year.
Hon Consul of India in Auckland Bhav Dhillon says a new full-service consulate in Auckland will address a long-standing demand of the Kiwi-Indian community, and go a long way in further improving the already blossoming India-NZ relations.
“I am looking forward to welcoming Mr Sethi and handing over the responsibility,” Dhillon says, confirming his full support during the transition and the subsequent opening of the facility.
“Thanks to PM Modi for accepting our long-standing demand as a fully staffed and resourced consulate general was the need of the hour with now nearly 200,000 Indians in the greater Auckland region.”
The honorary consulate, called Consulate of India, Auckland, was opened nearly seven years back with a view to providing a diplomatic channel and serving Kiwi-Indians, who had to liaise with the embassy in Wellington for all big and small needs.
Narendra Bhana of New Zealand Indian Central Association, one of Aotearoa’s leading diaspora organisations, says, "The Indian community is looking forward to a full-fledged consulate opening in Auckland, and we look forward to supporting Mr Sethi. Easier access to more services right here in the city will be a huge relief for thousands of Kiwi-Indians."
ISSUE
