Embassy of India

Washington DC

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 Press Release

Washington DC

December 5, 2016

The Indian American Community of Metropolitan Washington hosted a reception on December 4, 2016 at Fair Oaks, Virginia to welcome Ambassador Navtej Sarna who took charge as Ambassador of India to the United States of America on November 5,  2016 and to bid farewell to Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, DCM who is proceeding for his next assignment as High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka soon. The event was attended by over 350 prominent members of the Indian American Community.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Navtej Sarna hailed Indian American community for its remarkable success in various areas and highlighted their contributions in strengthening Indo-US relationship.  Ambassador Navtej Sarna announced a fresh initiative to improve the Consular service being provided by the Embassy. Starting first week of January 2017, Embassy and the five consulates located in New York, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco will hold “Open House” once every fortnight wherein Senior Embassy/Consulate officials will attend to grievances of public on Passport, Visa and OCI cards in person. The date and time of each Open House session will be intimated on the website of the Embassy and the Consulates.

In his remarks, Amb Taranjit Singh Sandhu, DCM also highlighted the role of the Indian American community in strengthening India US relationship. He stressed on the need to involve the youth of Indian American community in activities aimed at strengthening India US ties. The Indian-American Community of Metropolitan Washington felicitated him on the occasion.

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