Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao Permanent Representative of Indiato the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva

Brief Biography

Mr. Hamid Ali Rao was Ambassador & Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, from December 2007 to September 2011.

Before arriving in Geneva, he was Joint Secretary Disarmament & International Security Affairs in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and prior to that, worked as Joint Secretary (UNES & UNP).

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1981. In his first stint at MEA Headquarters (1985-95), he worked as US (SAARC), DS(UN), and OSD for Press Relations. He was Private Secretary to the External Affairs Minister from 1993-95.

His earlier assignments abroad were in Vienna as Third/Second Secretary, as Counsellor in PMI, Geneva, as Counsellor in HCI, Dhaka, and as DCM in the Indian Embassy in Vienna (2001-2004).

Born in 1954, Ambassador Rao holds MA in Political Science and LLB. He is married to Dr. Asiya Hamid Rao; they have two daughters.