Mr. R. Swaminathan joined as Ambassador of India in Cairo in March 2009.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1980 and began his diplomatic career in Egypt where he studied Arabic language at the American University in Cairo (AUC) from 1982 to 1984. Thereafter he served in Doha as Second Secretary before moving to the Indian Embassy in Paris as First Secretary. His next assignment was in the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai for four years as Head of the External Relations Department. During this period he was also Secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission of India. He then moved to Thimphu, Bhutan where he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission for three years from 1995 to 1998. Thereafter he headed the Commercial and Economic Wing of the Indian High Commission in Colombo for 2 ½ years till March 2001 during which the India-Sri Lankan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed. He then went on deputation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna for five years, responsible for the Policy coordination of five of the six Departments of the Agency in addition to being the Chief of Protocol of the IAEA.

Before the present assignment in Cairo, Swaminathan was the Chief Passport Officer of the Government of India heading the Consular, Passport and Visa Division of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Swaminathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a Master’s degree in Management. He was born in 1955. He is married and has two children.