Hamid Ali Rao was making a brief address at a reception held in his honor by the embassy’s deputy chief of mission Ram Manohar at his residence on Sunday. Rao arrived in the Kingdom on Saturday.

The reception was attended by prominent community members, foreign diplomats and the media. Manohar introduced the new envoy to the guests.

There are around 2 million Indian expatriates living in the Kingdom. Rao, who presented his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Obaid Al-Madani on Monday, joined his country's foreign service in 1981.

Prior to his posting here, Rao was his country's permanent representative to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He succeeds the former Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad who retired on Aug. 31.

During his 30-year stint, Rao, who has his Master’s in political science, had served in Vienna, Dhaka and New Delhi before he was posted to Geneva.