Ajay Bisaria is a former career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. He served as the High Commissioner of India to Canada from March 2020 to June 2022. Earlier, he served as High Commissioner of India to Pakistan from December 2017 to February 2020. Prior to joining the diplomatic service, Bisaria worked briefly with the American Express Bank and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in Delhi. Education He received his early education in Mumbai and New Delhi. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the St. Stephens College, Delhi University (1980–83), a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (1983–85) and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University (2008 – 09). Career After training at the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi, Ajay Bisaria chose Russian as his language of specialization and was posted at the Indian Embassy in Moscow (1988 – 1991) where he was attached to the economic and political wings of the Embassy. He worked as a Soviet internal affairs specialist in the months leading up to the dissolution of the USSR. He served as Under Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs on the East Europe desk (1991 – 92) when India was engaged in building new relationships with the post-Soviet countries. He then moved to the Ministry of Commerce (1992–95), in the era of economic liberalization. He contributed to a new trade policy paradigm, using his training in economics and finance, as part of a team that managed a complex transition of India’s trade arrangements from a rupee-based to a hard currency regime. He was posted as First Secretary in the Indian Embassy in Berlin (1995–1999), where he facilitated commercial relations at a time of rising economic engagement between a unifying Germany and a liberalizing India. He also led a project management team to oversee the development and construction of the new building of the Embassy of Indian in Berlin in the historic Tiergarten area. In 1999, Bisaria was appointed Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and served in the role for the whole of Vajpayee's term, until 2004. In addition to managing the office of the Prime Minister as staff officer, he acted as an advisor to Vajpayee on various economic, defence and foreign policy initiatives. He attended more than 50 international summits with the Prime Minister as part of his delegation.